Monkey King

Depiction of the Forbidden Temple's Sun Wukong as depicted in a scene in a Peking opera

According to Journey to the West, the Monkey King is born from a strong magic stone that sits atop the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit. This stone is no ordinary stone, however, because it receives the nurture of heaven (yang), which possesses a positive nature, and earth (yin), which possesses a negative nature, and thus is able to produce living beings (according to Taoist philosophies). The stone develops a magic womb, which bursts open one day to produce a stone egg about the size of a ball.

When the wind blows on the egg, it turns into a stone monkey that can already crawl and walk. As his eyes move, two beams of golden light shoot toward the Jade palace and startle the Jade Emperor. When he sees the light he orders two of his officers to investigate. They report the stone monkey, and that the light is dying down as the monkey eats and drinks. The Jade Emperor believes him to be nothing special.

On the mountain, the monkey joins a group of other wild monkeys. After playing, the monkeys regularly bathe in a stream. One day, they decide to seek the source of the stream and climb the mountain to a waterfall. They declare that whoever goes through the waterfall, finds the stream's source, and comes out again will become their king. The stone monkey volunteers and jumps into the waterfall.

He finds a large iron bridge over rushing water, across which is a cave. He persuades the other monkeys to jump in also, and they make it into their home. Sun Wukong then reminds them of their prior declaration, so they declare him their king. He takes the throne and calls himself Handsome Monkey King (美猴王). This happiness does not last. When one of his older monkey friends dies, the Monkey King is very upset. He decides to strike out from his island on a self-made raft, in search of an Immortal to teach him how to beat death.

He comes ashore and wanders around. Humans see him and flee, uncertain of his ape-like appearance. He takes some clothes that were left out to dry, and continues on foot. His face hidden by a hood, he travels through towns and sees many examples of human degeneracy and vice. He continues on and into a forest. The Monkey King hears a Woodcutter singing an interesting song, and when questioning the Woodcutter about the origin he learns it was taught to the Woodcutter by an Immortal who resides in the forest.

The Monkey King comes to the entrance of a temple in which a magical taoist martial artist named Puti Zushi resides. Puti Zushi initially refuses to let him in, but the Monkey King refuses to leave, and waits outside the entrance for months. Puti Zushi is impressed by the Monkey King's persistence, and allows him to enter. He accepts the Monkey King as a student and teaches him advanced Taoist practices, including the Way of Immortality, which he tells Sun Wukong it was his destiny to know. He later advises Sun Wukong never to needlessly show off his skills, because others might ask him to teach them, and if he does teach them, they may go on to cause trouble, but if he doesn't teach them, they will resent him for it. He then forbids Sun Wukong from ever revealing who it was that taught him, and the loyal Monkey King promises never to reveal the identity of his Master. With that, Sun Wukong wakes up to find himself back in the forest, realizing that the many years he spent learning the Way had taken place in some form of compressed time trance. Later, whenever Sun Wukong is asked about his powers and skills, he honestly replies that he learned everything in his dreams.

After the Monkey King returns, he learns that a demon called the Demon King of Confusion is kidnapping the monkeys of the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit to use as slaves. He subsequently kills the demon and his minions, saving the kidnapped monkeys. He also brings the entire weapon storage of a nearby country for his subjects, but is unable to find a weapon fit for himself. Upon hearing that Dragon Kings possess many treasures, he travels the oceans and finds the palace of a Dragon King. At the entrance Sun Wukong asks for an introduction, but the Dragon King Ao Guang tells his guards to turn him away. Sun Wukong barges in any way, brushing off protests from the guards, insisting the Dragon King must be confused to turn away a fellow King. Inside he introduces himself and encourages the Dragon King to give him a weapon. Quickly realizing Sun Wukong is quite formidable, the Dragon King feigns willingness and hospitality, ordering his underlings to bring out weapon after weapon. Sun Wukong tests each weapon, but none are robust enough for the Monkey King, who is unhappy at the situation. Sun Wukong then acquires the golden-banded staff Ruyi Jingu Bang/Ding Hai Shen Zhen (如意金箍棒/定海神针), the stabilizer of the Four Seas and a treasure of Ao Guang, the dragon-king of the Eastern Seas. The Monkey King is the only creature strong enough to wield the staff-like weapon and there is an instant affinity between them. The golden-banded staff can change its size, elongate, fly, and attack opponents according to its master's will. It weighs 13,500 jīn or 7960 kg. When not wielding the weapon, the Monkey King shrinks it down to the size of a sewing needle and stores it in his ear.

In addition to taking the magical staff, the Monkey King encourages the Dragon King to gift him attire fit for a King. The Dragon King calls upon the other major Dragon Kings for assistance to source this for Sun Wukong, and they arrive and give Sun Wukong a golden chain mail shirt (鎖子黃金甲), a phoenix-feather cap (鳳翅紫金冠 Fèngchìzǐjinguān), and cloud-walking boots (藕絲步雲履 Ǒusībùyúnlǚ). The phoenix-feather cap was one of the treasures of the dragon kings, a circlet of red gold adorned with phoenix feathers. Traditionally, it is depicted as a metal circlet with two striped feathers attached to the front, presumably the signature plumage of the Fenghuang or Chinese phoenix. Sun Wukong thanks the Dragon Kings and leaves happy.

Upon his return to the mountain, Wukong demonstrates the new weapon to his monkey tribe and draws the attention of other beastly powers, who seek to ally with him. He forms a fraternity, the Seven Sages (七聖), with the Bull Demon King (牛魔王), the Saurian Demon King (蛟魔王), the Single-horned Demon King (单角魔王), the Roc Demon King (鵬魔王), the Lion Spirit King (獅狔王), the Macaque Spirit King (獼猴王)--not to be mistaken for the Six Eared Macaque--and the snub-nosed monkey Spirit King (禺狨王).

The Monkey King, now sentenced to death for extorting the Dragon Kings, then defies Hell's attempt to collect his soul. He wipes his name out of the Book of Life and Death, a collection of books claimed to have every name of every mortal alive and the ability to manipulate lifespan, along with the names of all monkeys known to him. The Dragon Kings and the Kings of Hell report him once again to the Jade Emperor.[3] The heavenly army uses everything, even trying to erase him from existence altogether, but ultimately fail.

Hoping that a promotion and a rank amongst the gods will make him more manageable, the Jade Emperor invites the Monkey King to Heaven. The Monkey King believes he is receiving an honorable place as one of the gods as he is told he will be made 'Protector of the Horses' (a fancy term the Heavens coined for a stable-boy), the lowest job in heaven. When he discovers the importance of status in Heaven, and how he has been given the lowest position, the Monkey King sets the Cloud Horses free from the stable, then returns to his own kingdom and proclaims himself The Great Sage, Heaven's Equal.

The Heavens reluctantly recognize his self-proclaimed title after Gold Star advises the Jade Emperor against rushing into military action against the 'brash, rude and impudent' monkey, warning that failing to defeat Monkey would harm the reputation of Heaven. Gold Star advises the Jade Emperor to superficially appease Sun Wukong's vanity while treating him as a pet, and invite him back to Heaven to keep him from causing trouble on earth. The Jade Emperor agrees after Gold Star laughs that, in reality, the fanciful title is a meaningless joke revealing Sun Wukong's overconfidence and ignorance to the important workings of Heaven.

Sun Wukong suspects a trap but is happy when Gold Star, acting as an envoy, addresses him as Great Sage Equal of Heaven and presents him with official papers. Gold Star tells Sun Wukong he's been granted a far more important position as 'Guardian of the Heavenly Peach Garden,' which peach-loving Sun Wukong accepts. Later, when seven heavenly maidens are sent by the Queen Mother Xi Wangmu to pluck peaches for the Royal Banquet, Sun Wukong discovers every important god and goddess has been invited to the banquet except for him. When he tells the maidens he is Great Sage Equal of Heaven, the maidens giggle, replying that everyone in Heaven knows he is merely an immortal who tends to the peach garden. The Monkey King's indignation then turns to open defiance.

During the preparations for the Royal Banquet, Sun Wukong sneaks in to taste the fine foods and drink royal wine. In a tipsy state, the Monkey King roams Heaven while all the gods and goddesses are on their way to the banquet. He reaches high levels of the palace that the authorities of Heaven leave unguarded, for they can only be accessed by deities of the highest and purest spiritual power. Upon realizing that he is at the top of the 33 layers of the heavenly palace, Sun Wukong steals and consumes Laozi's Pills of Immortality and Xi Wangmu's Peaches of Immortality, takes the remainder of the Jade Emperor's royal wine, and then escapes back to his kingdom in preparation for his rebellion.

The Jade Emperor refuses to accept Gold Star's counsel to find another peaceful way to deal with Sun Wukong and orders his forces to mobilize. Laughing continuously and fully enjoying himself, and with a combination of martial prowess, guile, and quick-witted creative responses to many different types of powerful Heavenly weapons used against him, the Monkey King single-handedly defeats the Army of Heaven's 100,000 celestial warriors, all 28 constellations, Nezha, and all of the Four Heavenly Kings. Then Guanyin, the Boddhisattva of Mercy and her disciple Muzha/Moksha arrive. Guanyin sends Muzha to inspect the situation and fight Sun Wukong. Muzha is defeated, then Guanyin suggests the Jade Emperor's nephew Erlang Shen fight Wukong. Wukong and Erlang are evenly matched and eventually both turn into terrifying figures, which scares Wukong's monkey army away. Sun Wukong is disheartened and turns into a fish to run away, then both of them keep shapeshifting to turn into more powerful things than the other, finally Laozi throws his Diamond Jade ring at Wukong from behind while he is fighting, knocking him senseless and enabling Erlang to bind him up.

After several failed attempts at execution, Sun Wukong is locked into Laozi's eight-way trigram crucible for 49 days in order to be distilled into an elixir by samadhi fires; this will allow Laozi to regain his pills of longevity. The fire of the crucible is hot enough to burn beings of so much unspeakable power, they rival Buddha himself.

However, when the cauldron is opened 49 days later, the Monkey King jumps out, having survived by hiding in a corner marked by the wind trigram, where there was less fire. In fact, the heat from the samadhi fires have reinforced his bodily frame, making him stronger than ever before and impervious to greater damage. The heat also gives him a new ability; the Monkey King can now recognize evil with his new huǒyǎn-jīnjīng (火眼金睛, lit. 'fiery eyes and golden pupils'). Sun Wukong then proceeds to destroy the crucible and makes his way to Heaven's main chamber to confront the Jade Emperor and his senior advisors.

The Jade Emperor and the authorities of Heaven appeal to the Buddha, who arrives from his temple in the West in person. After listening to Sun Wukong, who makes a case that he should be the new Jade Emperor, the Buddha makes a bet that the Monkey King cannot escape from his palm. The Monkey King smugly accepts the bet. He leaps and flies all the way to the edge of the universe. Seeing nothing there but five towering pillars, the Monkey King believes that he has reached the ends of all existence. To prove his trail, he marks a pillar with a phrase declaring himself the Great Sage Equal to Heaven and urinates on the middle pillar. He then leaps back and returns to Buddha's palm to claim his victory in winning the bet. Sun Wukong is then very surprised to find that the five "pillars" he found are merely fingers of the Buddha's hand, finding it impossible to believe. When the Monkey King tries to escape the palm, Buddha turns his hand into a mountain of rocks, sending Sun Wukong hurtling back down to earth. Before the Monkey King can lift the mountain off, the Buddha seals him there, using a paper talisman bearing the mantra, Om Mani Padme Hum, in gold letters. The Monkey King remains imprisoned in stocks for five hundred years to 'learn patience and humility,' with only his head and hands protruding from the base of the mountain. The Buddha arranges two earth spirits to feed the Monkey King iron pellets when he is hungry, and molten copper when he is thirsty.[3]

Sun Wukong with Tang Sanzang

Sun Wukong fighting a wind demon

Five hundred years later, the Bodhisattva Guanyin searches for disciples to protect a pilgrim on a journey to the West to retrieve the Buddhist sutras. In the hearing of this, the Monkey King offers to serve the pilgrim, Tang Sanzang, a monk of the Tang dynasty, in exchange for his freedom after the pilgrimage is complete. Understanding Sun Wukong will be difficult to control, Guanyin gives Tang Sanzang a gift from the Buddha: a magical circlet which, once the Monkey King is tricked into putting it on, can never be removed. When Tang Sanzang chants a certain sutra, the band will tighten and cause an unbearable headache. Guanyin gives the Monkey King three special hairs, only to be used in dire emergencies. Under Tang Sanzang's supervision, the Monkey King is allowed to journey to the West.

Throughout the novel, the Monkey King faithfully helps Tang Sanzang on his journey to India. They are joined by "Pigsy" (猪八戒 Zhū Bājiè) and "Sandy" (沙悟浄 Shā Wùjìng), both of whom accompany the priest to atone for their previous crimes. Tang Sanzang's safety is constantly under threat from demons and other supernatural beings, as well as bandits, as they believe that by eating Tang Sanzang's flesh, one will obtain immortality and great power. The Monkey King often acts as Tang Sanzang's bodyguard to combat these threats. The group encounters a series of eighty-one tribulations before accomplishing their mission and returning safely to China. During the journey, the Monkey King learns about virtues and the teachings of Buddhism. There, the Monkey King attains Buddhahood, becoming the "Victorious Fighting Buddha" (鬥戰勝佛 Dòu-zhànshèng-fó), for his service and strength.[3] We also see that Monkey king also knows about the fate of Tang Sangzang and also of his knowledge in many other things, as at three occasions he knew that the monk was supposed to suffer and he also cures a king who had been ill for many years, and he knows properties of herbs no one knew of.

After feeling down about the future and death, Wukong sets out to find the immortal Taoist patriarch Puti Zushi to learn how to be immortal. There, Wukong learns spells to grasp all five elements and cultivate the way of immortality, as well as the 72 Earthly Transformations. After seven years of training with the sage, Wukong gains the secret formula to immortality. It is noted that the Court of Heaven does not approve of this method of immortality.[11]

In the middle of the night, Wukong's soul is tied up and dragged to the World of Darkness. He is informed there that his life in the human world has come to an end. In anger, Wukong fights his way through the World of Darkness to complain to "The Ten Kings," who are the judges of the dead. The Ten Kings try to address the complaint and calm Wukong by saying many people in the world have the same name and the fetchers of the dead may have gotten the wrong name. Wukong demands to see the register of life and death, then scribbles out his name, thus making him untouchable by the fetchers of death, along with the names of all of the monkeys in his tribe. It is because Wukong has learned magic/magical arts as a disciple to Puti Zushi that he can scare the Ten Kings, demanding from them the book of mortals and removing his name, thus making him even more immortal. After this incident, the Ten Kings complain to the Jade Emperor.[11]

Soon after the Ten Kings complain to the Jade Emperor, the Court of Heaven appoints Sun Wukong as "Keeper of the Heavenly Horses," a fancy name for a stable boy. Angered by this, Wukong rebels and the Havoc in Heaven begins. During the Havoc in Heaven, Wukong is assigned to be the "Guardian of the Heavenly Peach Garden." The garden includes three types of peaches, each of which grant over 3,000 years of life. The first type blooms every three thousand years; anyone who eats it will become immortal, and their body will become both light and strong. The second type blooms every six thousand years; anyone who eats it will be able to fly and enjoy eternal youth. The third type blooms every nine thousand years; anyone who eats it will become "eternal as heaven and earth, as long-lived as the sun and moon." While serving as the guardian, Wukong does not hesitate to eat the peaches, thus granting him immortality and the abilities that come with the peaches. If Wukong had not been appointed as the Guardian of the Heavenly Peach Garden, he would not have eaten the Peaches of Immortality and would not have gained another level of immortality.[11]

Because of Wukong's rebellious antics, Wukong is not considered as an important celestial deity and is thus not invited to the Queen Mother of the West's royal banquet. After finding out that every other important deity was invited, Wukong impersonates one of the deities that was invited and shows up early to see why the banquet is important. He immediately is distracted by the aroma of the wine and decides to steal and drink it. The heavenly wine has the ability to turn anyone who drinks it to an immortal.[11]

While drunk from the heavenly wine, Wukong stumbles into Laozi's alchemy lab, where he finds Laozi's pills of longevity, known as "The Immortals' Greatest Treasure." Filled with curiosity about the pills, Wukong eats a gourd of them. Those who eat the pills will become immortal. If Wukong had not been drunk from the heavenly wine, he would not have stumbled into Laozi's alchemy lab and eaten the pills of longevity.[11]

Following Wukong's three cause-and-effect methods of immortality during his time in heaven, he escapes back to his home at the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit. The Court of Heaven finds out what Wukong has done and a battle to capture Wukong ensues. Due to the five levels of immortality Wukong has achieved, his body has become nearly invincible and thus survives the multiple execution attempts by heaven. In the notable last execution, Wukong was placed inside Laozi's furnace in hopes that he will be distilled into the elixir of the pills of immortality. Wukong survives 49 days of the samadhi fire in Laozi's furnace and gains the ability to recognize evil; meanwhile, being refined in the crucible extracts yet more of the impurities of mortality and leaves him with another immortality. In desperation, the Court of Heaven seeks help from Buddha, who finally imprisons Wukong under a mountain, after-having tricked him into agreeing to a wager. Wukong's immortality and abilities ultimately come into use after Guanyin suggests he become a disciple of Tang Sanzang in the Journey to the West. In the story, he protects Sanzang from evil demons who wish to eat Sanzang to achieve immortality. Wukong's own immortality protects him from the various ways the demons try to kill him, such as fighting, beheading, disembowelling, poisoning, and boiling oil.[11]

Sometime during the journey, Wukong and his companions obtain Ginseng fruit (人參果; Man-fruit), a fruit even rarer and more powerful than the Peaches of Immortality, as only 30 of them will grow off one particular tree only found on the Longevity Mountain (萬壽山) every 10,000 years. While one smell can grant 360 years of life, consuming one will grant another 47,000 years of life.

In addition to all of the immortality-granting wines and medicines that the Monkey King had consumed while in heaven, upon reaching the Buddha's temple, pilgrims were provided with Buddhist equivalents of such foods, therefore making Sun Wukong even more immortal; an 8-fold immortal.

Cartoon-style models of Monkey King on the streets of Lianyungang

• The character of Monkey in Netflix's The New Legends of Monkey (2018 - ) portrayed by Chai Hansen is based on Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en.
• The character of Son Goku in Dragon Ball is based on Sun Wukong, as attested by his monkey tail, staff, and name (which is simply the Japanese reading of the same name in Chinese: "孫悟空").[18]
• The manga-anime series Saiyuki Sun Wukong counterpart also uses the Japanese reading Son Goku.
• The character of Mushra in the Toei Animation Anime Shinzo is based on Sun Wukong, retaining the character's golden headband and telescoping staff.
• The character of Monkey in the 1978 Japanese television series Monkey is based on Sun Wukong.
• The character of Kongo in Monkey Magic is based on Sun Wukong.
• In the webtoon The God of High School and its derivative media, the protagonist Mori Jin is based on the God Sun Wukong.[19]
• The character Sun Wukong in RWBY is based on the lore; but instead of using his hair to make the clones, he can make the clones using RWBY's magic system.[20]
• The character of Sun Wukong, explicitly said to be the trickster of legend, plays a major role in the DreamWorks animated series Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny.
• The main characters of Spaceketeers and Force Five are based on the Monkey King. They wear a golden band around their heads that is controlled by the princess, and which may induce agony as well. The golden band is also his primary weapon, a long javelin that decreases in size and shape.
• Marvel Comics features their own version of Sun Wukong. This version was a crime lord, styled after the famed character, who steals the original staff and encounters the spirit of the real Monkey King. After being punished by being sent to hell, he escapes and decides to devote himself to fighting evil as repentance.
• DC Comics' Sun Wukong has a human son named Marcus Sun who discovers his parentage and takes up the superhero codename of Monkey Prince.
• In 2021, Sunrise Inc. has released an animation series SD Gundam World Heroes,[21] under the SD Gundam franchise. in which feature Sun Wukong as a protagonist along with other mythical characters in novels.
• The storyline of the 2023 film The Monkey King is derived from the origin stories of the Monkey King, ending with his release from imprisonment.[22]

• In Dota 2, there is a hero called Monkey King. His backstory also roughly follows the story of Journey to the West.[23]
• In Heroes of the Storm, a legendary skin is based on Sun Wukong.[24]
• League of Legends has a champion based on Wukong.[25]
• In For Honor, Sun Wukong appears as a hero skin.
• Warframe features a playable character named Wukong, who is modelled on the Monkey King and possesses abilities based on those described in Journey to the West.[26]
• In Mobile Legends: Bang Bang the character Sun is based on Sun Wukong.[27]
• In Honor of Kings, the character Sun Wukong is based on the Monkey King.[28]
• In Arena of Valor character Wukong is based on Sun Wukong.
• Sun Wukong is one of twelve mythological heroes that civilizations can summon in Civilization VI's Heroes and Legends Mode.[29]
• In Totally Accurate Battle Simulator, the Monkey King is a playable unit from the dynasty faction.
• In the Megami Tensei and Persona series, Seiten Taisei (also known as Wukong) is one of the available Demons/Persona the player can befriend or, in the latter game, fight alongside.
• Sun Wukong is the primary protagonist in the game Black Myth: Wukong, referred to in the game as "the Destined One" (天命人).
• In Pirate101, Monkey King is an NPC turned recruitable companion.
• Sun Wukong is one of the playable gods in Smite, being classified as a warrior.
• In Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood, Qitian Dasheng is a non-playable and boss character based on Sun Wukong.
• In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, there is a villager named Tiansheng who is inspired by Sun Wukong, and requests a house inspired by peaches with the Happy Home Paradise DLC.
• In Paragon (video game), a shut down free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena game developed and published by Epic Games hero Wukong was playable.
• In Genshin Impact, a Guardian Yaksha named Menogias is based off of Sun Wukong.

• Sun Wukong is the inspiration and titular character of K-Pop boy group Seventeen's song "Super" (손오공).