Sun Wukong is known/pronounced as Suen Ng-hung in Cantonese, Son Gokū in Japanese, Son Oh Gong in Korean, Sun Ngō͘-Khong in Minnan, Tôn Ngộ Không in Vietnamese, Sung Ghokong or Sung Gokhong in Javanese, Sun Ngokong in Thai, "Wu Khone" in Arakanese and Sun Gokong in Malay and Indonesian. 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. He issued an invitation to Wukong, who eagerly accepted. The Monkey King establishes himself as a powerful and influential demon. 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 advisers. Directed by Wan Laiming, Cheng Tang. Share your thoughts, experiences and the tales behind the art. 1 Lore 2 Abilities 3 Skins 3.1 Old Cards 3.2 Concepts/Models 4 Achievements 5 Videos 6 Patch changes 7 External links Warrior, rebel, trickster, monk, Sun Wukong is known by many titles in the East, yet it was a Journey to the West that made him a hero. How powerful is Sun Wukong? The legend of Sun Wukong first appeared in the Song Dynasty-era adventure novel Journey to the West. Sun Wukong, also known as the Monkey King is mythological hero-god from various Chinese legends, who most famously appears in the Ming Dynasty novel Journey to the West.According to the novel, Wukong began his life as a monkey born from a stone. The Monkey King waits outside the entrance for many months, refusing to leave. He is now able to recognize evil with 火眼金睛, huǒyǎn-jīnjīng (lit. Though the character sūn (孫) usually refers to grandsons, in this context it refers to monkeys. 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. Once he got there, however, Sun Wukong discovered he was assigned to the lowest task in all of Heaven: guarding the Jade Emperor’s horses. He now had the ability to recognize evil in any form, through his huoyan-jinjing (“fiery-eyes golden-gaze”) an eye condition that also gave him a weakness to smoke. Wukong began to form alliances with other animal tribes, which caught the attention of the Jade Emperor, the monarch of the Taoist gods. He comes ashore and wanders around. Then the Jade Emperor dispatches celestial soldiers to arrest Sun Wukong, but no one succeeds. When he sees the light he orders two of his officers to investigate. The group encounters a series of eighty-one tribulations before accomplishing their mission and returning safely to China. Boomstick- The Jade Emperor, who is the Supreme King of Heaven, attempted to make Sun Wukong more manageable by giving him a job. [12] The author, Tong Yue (童說), wrote the book because he wanted to create an opponent—in this case, desire-itself—that Sun could not defeat with his great strength and martial skill. He leaps and flies to the end of the world. 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). "Is the Monkey King the world's most popular superhero?." New World Encyclopedia. Privacy Policy, https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Journey_to_the_West, https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/monkey-king-worlds-most-popular-superhero, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_King, https://mythopedia.com/chinese-mythology/gods/sun-wukong/. (n.d.). Jade Emperor is a title used by multiple people throughout the story. Sun Wukong is a fictional character in the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West. Man, no wonder people like Frieza hate monkeys. As the celestial bureaucracy tries to bring him in line, he sounds like a powerful warlord testing the limits of an earthly emperor. He’s one of the strongest fictional characters ever written. The phoenix-feather cap was one of the treasures of the dragon kings, a circlet of red gold adorned with phoenix feathers. 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). When he tells them he is Great Sage Equal of Heaven, the maidens giggle, telling him that everyone in Heaven knows that it is simply a title and he is just an immortal who takes care of the peach garden. Range: Standard melee range Standard Equipment: His 8.1-ton pole, Ruyi Jingu Bang Intelligence: High intelligence and adept fighter of many years. His name literally translates as the “monkey awakened by the emptiness.” Wukong’s name is meant to represent his spiritual journey from an ignorant, short-tempered monkey to a benevolent, enlightened being. Eventually, through the teamwork of Taoist and Buddhist forces, including the efforts from some of the greatest deities, and then finally by the Bodhisattva of mercy, Guanyin, Sun Wukong is captured. He would gladly serve the monk in exchange for his release. After playing, the monkeys regularly bathe in a stream. It is noted that, technically, the Court of Heaven does not approve of this method of immortality. Some scholars believe this character may have originated from the first disciple of, The character of Sun Wukong, explicitly said to be the trickster of legend, plays a major role in the Dreamworks animated series. Buddha immediately banished Wukong from Heaven and pinned him underneath a mountain so that he could reflect on his actions. The stone monkey volunteers and jumps into the waterfall. Second, some of them translate some names incorrectly. This plan completely backfired because of the Monkey King's arrogance, and he gained immortality three more times! The Buddha bets that Sun Wukong cannot escape from Buddha's palm. It is thought that the 6th brother is (with increasing precision and decreasing certainty) derived from a colobine (subfamily. Any disagre… The Monkey King is a 2014 Hong Kong-Chinese action-fantasy film directed by Cheang Pou-soi and starring Donnie Yen as the titular protagonist Sun Wukong.Yen also serves as the film's action director.Production began in Beijing on 18 October 2010 and was filmed in 3D. Mae Hamilton is a freelance journalist with a B.A. Tong, Yue, Shuen-fu Lin, Larry James Schulz, and Chengẻn Wu. After losing a war with heaven, he is forced to protect Sanzang to atone for his past grievances. © 2019 Wasai LLC – All Rights Reserved. When Tang Sanzang chants a certain sutra, the band will tighten and cause an unbearable headache. Imprisonment. In Chinese mythology, Sun Wukong (孫悟空), also known as the Monkey King, is a trickster god who plays a central role in Wu Cheng’en’s adventure novel Journey to the West. After several clashes, using the major deities, and Guanyin, Wukong is captured and sentenced to death. However, the origins of local religion dated back centuries. After being released from the mountain he was trapped under for 500 years, Wukong serves as the monk's bodyguard throughout his journey. "golden-gaze fiery-eyes"). Later, when seven heavenly maidens are sent by the Queen Mother to pluck peaches for the Royal Banquet, Sun Wukong discovers every important god and goddess has been invited to the Royal Banquet, but that he is excluded from invitation. 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. He takes some clothes that were left out to dry, and continues on foot. 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. Prior to joining the Jade Emperor’s court, he lorded over a group of wandering monkeys who took care of him and regarded him as their leader. It weighs 13,500 jīn or 7960 kg. Turner. When the time came for Yan Wang (閻王) and the Kings of Hell to collect Wukong’s soul, Wukong was ready. His efforts are rendered fruitless when Sun Wukong eats the peaches of immortality in protest of not being invited to a royal banquet held for the gods. The Monkey King often acts as his bodyguard to combat these threats. His feats are: 1. There, Wukong learns spells to grasp all five elements and cultivate the way of immortality, as well as the 72 Earthly transformations. His feats are: 1. There, the Monkey King attained Buddhahood, becoming the "Victorious Fighting Buddha" (Dòu-zhànshèng-fó (鬥戰勝佛)), for his service and strength.[4]. https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Journey_to_the_West. Sun Wukong. Upon hearing about the irascible demon of Mount Huaguo, the Jade Emperor felt the best way to subdue Wukong was to let him live in Heaven with the other gods so that he would feel a sense of importance. The Heavens are reluctantly forced to recognize his title, after Gold Star advises the highly offended Jade Emperor against rushing into military action to kill the 'brash, rude and imprudent' monkey, counseling that resorting to force to subdue monkey would be good if they succeed, but asks to consider if they fail, which would harm the reputation of Heaven. For 500 years, Wukong lay immobilized beneath the weight of Buddha’s mountain. During all of these scenarios, all characters are in character and have standard equipment. Sun Wukong is born from a magic stone that sits atop Mount Huaguo. Sun Wukong steps on it and is seemingly defenseless. The Jade Emperor has no choice but to appoint him to be the guardian of the heavenly peach garden. However, when the cauldron is opened 49 days-later, the Monkey King jumps out still whole, having survived by hiding in a corner marked by the wind trigram in which there was less fire. https://mythopedia.com/chinese-mythology/gods/sun-wukong/. The Jade Emperor’s name consists of the Chinese characters yù (玉), meaning “jade,” and dì (皇), meaning “emperor.” However, the Jade Emperor has many other names and titles as well. Inspiration for the Monkey King's origins predate the novel and can be traced back both to the Monkey-God, Hanuman, from the Hindu epic, the Ramayana as well as from the Song dynasty. The Emperor gave Wukong a title, in hopes of controlling him. Hearing all the things that Sun Wukong had been doing, the Jade Emperor decided to invite him to heaven, reasoning that such a powerful demon was better off as one of his servants than running wild across the world. One day the group was relaxing near a waterfall when they decided to play a game: whoever was brave enough to jump through the falls and find the stream’s source would be named the King of Monkeys. Sun Wukong. The book follows the story of a humble Buddhist monk named Tang Sanzang who travels from his home in Southern China to India in order to bring back holy texts and enlighten his countrymen. The stone develops a magic womb, which bursts open one day to produce a stone egg about the size of a ball. This happiness wouldn't last. At the entrance Sun Wukong asks for an introduction, but the Dragon King Ao Guang tells his guards to turn him away. He reaches high levels the authorities of Heaven leave unguarded, for they can only be accessed by high level immortals with the very highest levels of pure spirituality/spiritual-powers; something that they, erroneously, just never associated the Monkey King with. Sun Wukong also serves as the inspiration for the character of the same name in RWBY. Sun Wukong smugly accepts the bet. Subhuti accepts the Monkey King as a student, teaching him all advanced taoist practices including the way of Immortality, telling Sun Wukong it was his destiny to know. How powerful is Sun Wukong? 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. In the tale of Journey to the West, he assists the Zhou army in defeating the Shang. At first the Monkey King rejected the monk's offer. The heat also gives him a new ability; the Monkey King is now able to recognize evil with huǒyǎn-jīnjīng (火眼金睛) (lit. He takes the throne and calls himself Handsome Monkey King. Sun Wukong is suspicious of a trap, but is happy when Gold Star, acting as an envoy, presents him with the official papers and addresses him as Great Sage Equal of Heaven. [8], His inspiration might have also come from the White Monkey legends from the Chinese Chu kingdom (700–223 BC), which revered gibbons. The Buddha made a bet with Sun Wukong that he (Sun Wukong) could not escape from his (Buddha's) palm. 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. 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. Sun Wukong later single-handedly defeated the Army of Heaven’s 100,000 Eternal warriors - each fight an equivalent of a cosmic embodiment, including all 28 astral entities of the constellations, Four Heavenly Kings, and Nezha (the son of the Jade Emperor’s top general) who proved himself worthy - and proved himself equal to the best of Heaven’s generals, Erlang Shen. This is evident in the chapter with the Red Son, where Wukong is very nearly killed by his fire. Journey to the West, Wu Cheng'en (1500–1582), Translated by Foreign Languages Press, Beijing 1993. Sun Wukong steps on it and is seemingly defenseless. Sun Wukong is not the noblest of heroes. “Sun Wukong.” Mythopedia. Sun Wukong immediately leapt through the waterfall and traveled up the stream to find its source. Nezha is based on a young male character from Chinese mythology, who appears in some of the country's best-known works of classic literature, such as The Investiture of the Gods or Fengshen Yanyi, and Journey to the West. In hopes of finding a way to prove himself an equal, the Monkey King became obsessed with the idea of immortality and devoted himself to the pursuit of everlasting life. Havoc in the Heavenly Kingdom . After seven years of training with the sage, Wukong gains the secret formula to immortality. Wukong survives 49 days of the samadhi fire in Laozi's furnace and gains the ability to recognize evil. 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