The Handsome Monkey King (The Monkey King)

Sun Wukong was born from a magical stone (a stone nourished by the essence of heaven and earth). His birth caused a great disturbance in the heavenly realm, and the gods often referred to him as "the monkey that sprang from a stone." At this time, he didn't have a name, so we'll call him the Stone Monkey for now. The Stone Monkey lived with a group of monkeys on Mount Huaguo (the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit 花果山). One day, a monkey discovered a hidden cave behind a waterfall, an excellent shelter. The monkey group decided to hold a contest: whoever could enter the cave would be made their king. All the monkeys failed except for the Stone Monkey. As promised, the monkeys made him their king, and someone suggested, "Our king is so handsome; let's call him the Handsome Monkey King." Thus, the Stone Monkey got his first title: the Handsome Monkey King. They named the cave behind the waterfall the Water Curtain Cave. From then on, the Stone Monkey introduced himself as the Handsome Monkey King of the Water Curtain Cave on Mount Huaguo (花果山水帘洞美猴王).

Apprenticeship and Learning

The Handsome Monkey King and his group lived a carefree life on Mount Huaguo. However, the sudden death of an old monkey made the Handsome Monkey King ponder the issue of life and death. He didn't want to die, nor did he want to see his fellow monkeys die, so he decided to travel the world in search of immortality. After enduring many hardships, he eventually became a disciple of the immortal Patriarch Bodhi (菩提祖师). Patriarch Bodhi gave him the name Sun Wukong and taught him various skills, the most impressive being the 72 Transformations and the Somersault Cloud. Eventually, he achieved immortality. However, due to his mischievous nature, he caused trouble and was expelled by Patriarch Bodhi, who also instructed him never to reveal his master's identity.

The Origin of the Name "Sun Wukong":

• 孙 (Sun): In Chinese, monkeys are sometimes called "Husuns" (猢狲). Patriarch Bodhi decided to use the character "狲" from "Husun" as his surname but removed the animal radical (犭) to make it "孙," which sounds the same but has a different meaning.
• 悟 (Wu): Patriarch Bodhi had twelve groups of disciples, each group sharing a common character in their names. These characters were: "广大智慧真如性海颖悟圆觉" The Handsome Monkey King belonged to the tenth group, so he got the character "悟" (Wu).
• 空 (Kong): The character "空" (Kong) was chosen without any special meaning.

The Golden-Hooped Staff

Sun Wukong returned to Mount Huaguo and discovered that the Demon King of Chaos had taken over. After defeating the Demon King, his fame spread, and he befriended many powerful Yaoguai kings. Seeing that other Yaoguai kings had weapons, Wukong also wanted one. Someone suggested he visit the Dragon King of the East Sea (the Pacific Ocean). The Dragon King, eager to befriend the Handsome Monkey King, agreed to give him a weapon. However, none of the weapons satisfied Sun Wukong. In an attempt to get rid of him, the Dragon King showed him the Ruyi Jingu Bang (Golden-Hooped Staff), a massive pillar. The Dragon King bet that if Sun Wukong could lift it, he could keep it. To everyone's surprise, the staff recognized its true master and obeyed Wukong's commands to change size. When it shrank, they saw the inscription: "如意金箍棒，重一萬三千五百斤" (Golden-Hooped Staff, approximately 7,960 kg). The Dragon King tried to renege on his promise, but Sun Wukong, feeling betrayed, wreaked havoc in the Dragon Palace and left with the staff.

Havoc in the Underworld

Wukong continued his carefree life on Mount Huaguo until one day, after getting drunk, he was captured by the Black and White Impermanence (underworld messengers) and taken to the underworld. Upon awakening, he confronted King Yama, arguing that as an immortal, he shouldn't be on the Book of Life and Death. In a fit of rage, Sun Wukong destroyed the book and caused chaos in the underworld. Many speculate that Patriarch Bodhi intentionally concealed Sun Wukong's immortal status, uncertain whether teaching him those skills was a good idea.

Havoc in Heaven

The Dragon King and King Yama reported Sun Wukong's outrageous behavior to the Jade Emperor (玉皇大帝) in Heaven. To keep the peace, the Jade Emperor decided to give Sun Wukong a position in the heavenly government, hoping that adhering to heavenly rules would curb his antics. Sun Wukong was given the title "Keeper of the Heavenly Horses" (Bi Ma Wen 弼马温), a lowly job overseeing the stables. Realizing he was tricked, Wukong destroyed the stables in anger and returned to Mount Huaguo, declaring himself the "Great Sage Equal to Heaven" (Qi Tian Da Sheng 齐天大圣). The Jade Emperor, embarrassed and furious, sent heavenly soldiers to capture him, but they were no match for Wukong. The Jade Emperor then pretended to acknowledge Sun Wukong's title and gave him the task of managing the Peach Garden (蟠桃园), hoping to keep him confined in Heaven.

Sun Wukong learned that the peaches in the garden were extremely rare (taking 9,000 years to blossom and another 9,000 years to bear fruit) and agreed. Once in charge, he ate many peaches. During the Queen Mother's (王母娘娘) birthday banquet, the Seven Fairies came to pick peaches for the event. Sun Wukong discovering he wasn't invited, was furious. He crashed the banquet at the Jade Pool (瑶池) and took all the delicious food and wine back to share with the monkeys. He also accidentally stumbled into the Palace of Laozi (太上老君的兜率宫) and ate all the elixirs there.

When his actions were discovered, the Jade Emperor ordered Li Jing (Heavenly King Li 托塔李天王) and Yang Jian (Erlang Shen 杨戬) to capture Sun Wukong with an army of 100,000 celestial soldiers. Despite putting up a fierce fight, Sun Wukong was eventually captured. The gods tried various punishments, but nothing harmed him. Finally, the Jade Emperor ordered Laozi to place Sun Wukong in the Eight Trigrams Furnace to be burned. Instead of dying, Sun Wukong emerged with his "Fiery Golden Eyes" (Huo Yan Jin Jing 火眼金睛). He then stormed the Hall of Miraculous Mist, terrifying the gods. Ultimately, Sun Wukong triumphed and returned to Mount Huaguo.

Unable to subdue Sun Wukong, the Jade Emperor sought help from the Buddha (如来佛) in the Western Paradise. The Buddha defeated Sun Wukong and sealed him under the Five Elements Mountain (五行山).

Conversion to Buddhism and Journey to the West

500 years later, Guanyin (the Bodhisattva of Compassion 观音菩萨) intended to redeem Sun Wukong. She visited the Five Elements Mountain and told him to wait for a monk who would embark on a journey to retrieve sacred scriptures from the Western Paradise. In exchange for protecting the monk, Sun Wukong would regain his freedom. Years later, Sun Wukong met Tang Sanzang (Tripitaka 唐三藏), who freed him from his seal. Sun Wukong became his disciple, marking the beginning of their journey westward.

Tang Sanzang was an ordinary human with no combat abilities. Sun Wukong, being wild and unruly, needed to be controlled. Guanyin taught Tang Sanzang the Tight-Fillet Spell (紧箍咒 a spell that would tighten a magical headband, in the opening battle with Erlang Shen, Wukong was defeated by the Tight-Fillet Spell). After Sun Wukong caused trouble, Tang Sanzang tricked him into wearing the headband, disguised as a gift😭. Whenever Sun Wukong misbehaved, Tang Sanzang recited the spell, causing the headband to tighten painfully. After a few punishments, Sun Wukong ceased his rebellious behavior.