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Wukong wants a weapon that can protect his friends, so he storms the Dragon Palace beneath the Eastern Sea. There, an iron pillar on the seabed becomes the Ruyi Staff, which grows and shrinks at his command. That same night, after drinking with his new sworn brothers, his soul is dragged to the Underworld, and he wipes his own name and his friends' names from the Ledger of Death.
Story summary
Journey to the West is a Chinese novel in 100 chapters. Its oldest complete surviving edition was printed in 1592 by the Shidetang publishing house in Nanjing. The book is traditionally credited to Wu Cheng'en, but that edition names no author, and scholars still debate who wrote it. Chapter 3 is where Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, stops being just a local hero and becomes a problem for the whole cosmos. The chapter opens on the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, Wukong's home.
Journey to the West Chapter 3 Explained: Ruyi Staff & Book of Life
In short: In Chapter 3 of the Chinese novel Journey to the West, Sun Wukong obtains the size-changing Ruyi Jingu Bang from the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea and escapes death by crossing his name and other monkeys’ names out of the Book of Life and Death. Complaints about his actions reach Heaven, where the Jade Emperor agrees to invite him to take an official post.
The Original Story: Journey to the West, Chapter 3
Journey to the West is a Chinese novel in 100 chapters. Its oldest complete surviving edition was printed in 1592 by the Shidetang publishing house in Nanjing. The book is traditionally credited to Wu Cheng'en, but that edition names no author, and scholars still debate who wrote it. Chapter 3 is where Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, stops being just a local hero and becomes a problem for the whole cosmos.
The chapter opens on the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, Wukong's home. He has been training his monkeys with wooden swords and bamboo spears, but he worries they could never hold off a real army. Four old monkey advisors suggest taking weapons from Aolai, a nearby human kingdom. Wukong flies there on his cloud and calls up a magic windstorm that keeps the townspeople indoors. Then he turns plucked hairs into crowds of little monkeys, who empty the armory. He soon commands more than 47,000 monkeys, and the demon lords of seventy-two caves pledge loyalty to him.
One problem remains: no weapon suits Wukong himself. His advisors tell him that the water under the Iron Plank Bridge leads straight to the Dragon Palace of the Eastern Sea.
Where the Ruyi Jingu Bang Comes From
Wukong uses a water-parting spell and walks into the palace of Ao Guang, Dragon King of the Eastern Sea. He speaks politely, but he clearly isn't leaving empty-handed. The king first offers a broadsword, which Wukong turns down because he doesn't fight with blades. Next come a nine-pronged fork of 3,600 jin and a halberd of 7,200 jin (the jin is a traditional Chinese unit of weight). Wukong says both are too light.
The Dragon King's wife and daughter then mention a piece of "divine iron" in the sea treasury that has been glowing for days. Perhaps, they suggest, the time has come for it to meet this visitor. The king explains that Yu the Great, the legendary tamer of floods, once used it to fix the depth of rivers and seas. It is a huge pillar, more than twenty Chinese feet long. Every time Wukong wishes it were thinner and shorter, it shrinks, until it becomes a staff about twelve Chinese feet long. The middle is black iron and both ends are capped with gold bands. An inscription names it the Ruyi Jingu Bang, roughly the "As-You-Will Gold-Banded Staff," and gives its weight as 13,500 jin.
Wukong tries it out by shaking the whole palace, and then he demands clothes to go with it. Ao Guang calls his three brothers, the Dragon Kings of the other seas, and they hand over cloud-walking boots, golden chain armor and a phoenix-feather cap. Back home, Wukong shrinks the staff to the size of a needle and keeps it in his ear.
Erasing His Name from the Book of Life and Death
Wukong makes his four advisors marshals and generals, then travels the world making friends with powerful demons. He swears brotherhood with six demon kings, among them the Bull Demon King, who becomes important much later in the novel. In this chapter, though, the six are only listed by name.
After a feast with his new brothers, Wukong falls asleep drunk in the shade of a pine. Two underworld agents carrying a summons with his name on it tie up his soul and drag it away. When Wukong sees the gate of the Underworld, he is furious, because he believes he stands outside the ordinary order of the world. He pulls out his staff, kills the two agents and storms the city. The Ten Kings of the Underworld, who judge the dead (King Yama is one of them), greet him nervously, and he orders them to bring out the register of lifespans.
In the register, Wukong finds his own entry: a stone monkey born of heaven and earth, meant to live 342 years and die peacefully. He loads a brush with ink and crosses out his own name and the names of all the monkeys he can find. Then he throws the book aside and fights his way out. He wakes up when he trips, and he thinks it was all a dream. The narrator adds that this is why so many mountain monkeys never grow old.
The chapter ends in Heaven. Complaints arrive from the Dragon King and from Ksitigarbha (Dizang), the bodhisattva who presides over the underworld. The Jade Emperor wants to send troops. But Taibai Jinxing, the elder star god of the planet Venus, advises inviting the monkey to Heaven and giving him an official post instead, and the Emperor agrees.
What the Story Says: Background from Ming China
The chapter mixes beliefs that existed side by side in Ming-dynasty China. The Ten Kings and the written register of lifespans come from popular Buddhist and Daoist ideas about the afterlife, in which death is handled like government paperwork. Wukong doesn't escape death with an elixir. He escapes it by editing a document, and that joke worked well in a society run by officials and records.
Heaven's answer follows the same logic: instead of crushing a troublemaker, the court tries to absorb him by giving him a title. Some readers see this as satire of how real governments handled rebels, by buying them off with official posts. Others read the chapter simply as a comic adventure. Either way, these victories set up Wukong's later rebellion.
What the Manga Changes
The manga keeps the main events of the original: the Dragon Palace, the iron pillar that shrinks on command, the drinking party, the trip to the Underworld and the names struck from the register. Wukong crossing out the names with a brush comes straight from the book.
Several things are the manga's own. In the novel, the six sworn brothers are only names. The Bull Demon King's look, voice and banter with Wukong, the personalities of the other five kings, the seating at the feast and the food and drink were all invented for the manga. The manga also leans into the glowing iron as if it had been waiting for Wukong. In the book, that link is only a guess by the Dragon King's wife, and the popular idea that the staff "chose" him is an interpretation. The designs of the Dragon Palace, the dragon kings, the sea soldiers, the Underworld city and the Ten Kings are artistic choices, and so is the way Wukong performs the scene with the register.
Where to Read It
If you'd like to watch Wukong win his staff and outwit death, Episode 3 of Journey to the West: The Great Sage Equal to Heaven is available on Manga Portal. Every episode is free to read, with no sign-up required, so you can start from the beginning or go straight on to Wukong's arrival in Heaven.
Characters in this episode
Sun Wukong (the Monkey King)
A stone monkey born of heaven and earth who rules the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, takes his staff from the Dragon King and erases his own name from the register of the dead.
Ao Guang, Dragon King of the Eastern Sea
The undersea ruler who gives up the divine iron pillar and later complains about Wukong to the Jade Emperor.
The Bull Demon King
One of the six demon kings who swear brotherhood with Wukong; in the original chapter he is only named, and he plays a much bigger role later in the novel.
The Ten Kings of the Underworld
The judges of the dead, King Yama among them, who give in to Wukong and bring him the register of lifespans.
The Jade Emperor
The ruler of Heaven, who hears the complaints against Wukong and decides to invite him to Heaven instead of attacking him.
Taibai Jinxing (Great White Star)
The elder star god of the planet Venus, who advises giving Wukong a post in Heaven instead of sending troops.
FAQ
Where did Sun Wukong get his staff?
He got it from the Dragon Palace of the Eastern Sea in Chapter 3 of Journey to the West. It began as a huge iron pillar said to have been used by Yu the Great to measure the depth of the waters, and it shrank on Wukong's command into the Ruyi Jingu Bang.
How heavy is the Ruyi Jingu Bang?
The inscription on the staff gives its weight as 13,500 jin, a traditional Chinese unit of weight. It can grow or shrink at will, so Wukong can carry it in his ear as a tiny needle.
Why did Sun Wukong erase his name from the Book of Life and Death?
Underworld agents came for his soul because his recorded lifespan of 342 years had run out. Furious, he forced the Ten Kings to show him the register and crossed out his own name and his monkeys' names so that death could no longer claim them.
Is the Bull Demon King Sun Wukong's brother?
Yes, in the sense of a sworn brother. In Chapter 3, Wukong swears brotherhood with six demon kings, the Bull Demon King among them, though the chapter only lists their names.
Why did the Jade Emperor invite Sun Wukong to Heaven?
After the Dragon King and the Underworld complained, the Jade Emperor wanted to send troops. Taibai Jinxing persuaded him to give the monkey an official post in Heaven instead, hoping to control him without a fight.
