Who Is Sun Wukong (Monkey King)?
The unbeatable monkey born from a stone
Sun Wukong, also known as the Monkey King, is the hero of the Chinese novel Journey to the West: a monkey born from a magic stone on the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit. He masters the 72 transformations, the Somersault Cloud that carries him 108,000 li in a single leap, and the As-You-Will Staff, which can change its size at will. Later in the novel he becomes the senior disciple of the monk Tripitaka and protects him on the journey to India.
After his birth, the stone monkey finds the Water Curtain Cave behind a waterfall and becomes king of the monkeys as the Handsome Monkey King. Afraid of death, he crosses the sea and becomes a disciple of Patriarch Subhuti, who gives him the name Sun Wukong and teaches him magic. Back home, he takes the As-You-Will Staff from the Dragon Palace of the East Sea and erases his name from the underworld's Register of Life and Death. When he learns that his job in Heaven is Bimawen, a mere keeper of horses, he angrily calls himself the Great Sage Equal to Heaven. He goes on to devour the wine of the Peach Banquet and Laozi's elixir pills, but is finally captured after a shape-shifting duel with Erlang Shen.
The title Great Sage Equal to Heaven means a great sage who is the equal of Heaven itself. The "Wu" in Wukong is one of the characters the Patriarch gave to his disciples in turn as part of their names.
Episodes featuring this character6
NEWEpisode 1
The Monkey Born of Stone Learns to CryBirth of Sun Wukong (Water Curtain Cave)
A monkey born from a magic stone on Flower-Fruit Mountain finds the Water-Curtain Cave hidden behind a waterfall and becomes the Handsome Monkey King. Five hundred years later, at a feast, the king sees that his childhood friend has grown old. Afraid of the death that comes for everyone, he weeps. Then, refusing to let the end take his friends, he sets out alone across the sea on a small raft.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 2
Three Taps on the Head. What Did They Mean?Sun Wukong's Apprenticeship with Subhuti
After watching a friend die, the Monkey King becomes terrified of endings. He crosses the sea to study under the immortal Patriarch Subhuti, who gives him the name "Sun Wukong." He cracks the riddle of three taps on the head and learns the way to escape death. But when he shows off his powers, he's expelled, and he flies home to face a demon king who has been terrorizing his people.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 3
There's Just One Way to Never DieThe Ruyi Jingu Bang and the Book of Life and Death
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.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 4
Hired by Heaven, Stuck in the StablesGreat Sage Equal to Heaven
Invited to Heaven, Wukong is made "Bimawen," keeper of the Heavenly Horses. He works day and night without sleep, then learns the job is so low it doesn't even have a rank. Furious, he goes home to Flower-Fruit Mountain and names himself the Great Sage Equal to Heaven. He drives off Heaven's army, and Nezha is the first to call him by that name. But what Heaven finally gives him is a rank with a big name and nothing else.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 5
Not Invited? He Ate the Whole FeastThe Peach Banquet and the Elixir Pills
Made guardian of Heaven's peach orchard, Sun Wukong secretly eats the immortal peaches. When he finds out he's the only one not invited to Heaven's grand banquet, he goes on a rampage. He devours the feast, gobbles up Laozi's golden elixir pills, and flees home to Flower-Fruit Mountain. Down on Earth, 110 years have already passed, and Heaven sends a hundred thousand soldiers after him.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 6
72 Disguises. One Hunter. No Escape?Sun Wukong vs. Erlang Shen
A hundred thousand Heavenly Soldiers can't catch Sun Wukong, so Heaven calls in its greatest hunter: Erlang Shen. Sparrow? He becomes a hawk. Fish? He becomes the bird that eats fish. Whatever Wukong turns into, Erlang sees through it. Then, at the end of the shape-shifting duel, a blow nobody saw coming drops from Heaven's Gate.
19 pages