Full Version: Monkey King
i read this thing once about the monkey king in a book about japanese folk lore...it's a big monkey...like of giant proportions...the villagers wanted to kill it...they tryed to burn him...but he got glowing eyes of fire from that...he ate magical fruit that gave him imortality...he flew on a cloud that was capable of reaching speeds of 100,000 mph...they toppled a mountain on him and thats all i remember...he was supposedly trapped for...a really long time...
That's fascinating. Thanks for sharing that.
And what might the point of this intriguing little thread be?
And what might the point of this intriguing little thread be?
its a cool story homeslice...
Here is a bit of information on the Monkey King:
Sun Wu-Kung is the given name of the Monkey King. Sun, his family name, is based on the Chinese word for monkey. Wu-Kung means "pilgrim", and was given to him by his first instructor, a Taoist priest. He is also known as the Handsome Monkey King, the Monkey of the Mind, and Pi Ma-Wen, though the latter he considers quite an insult, and its use enrages him. Sun Wu-Kung is the one of the major characters in the classic tale "Journey to the West", about the Tang Monk Tripitaka and his journey to the Western Heaven to gain holy scriptures from Buddha and bring them back to China.
Sun Wu-Kung was born of primal chaos, hatching from a stone egg impregnated by the sky. He ruled over a kingdom of monkeys on a remote island, naming himself Handsome Monkey King. One day an elderly monkey passed away, and the Handsome Monkey King decided to leave the island to learn how to become immortal.
He traveled through the lands of humans, and finally he found a mountain where a Taoist priest took him on as a student. Monkey proved a very adept student at martial arts, magical transformations, and cloud dancing, an art that enabled him to leap thousands of miles with one jump. But Handsome Monkey King was mischievous, and was finally expelled for showing off.
He returned back to his island, destroyed monsters that had taken up residence there, and soon turned his eyes towards heaven, believing himself as powerful as the gods. He named himself The Great Sage, Equal to Heaven, and demanded that the Jade Emperor recognize him as such. Realizing his power, Jade Emperor granted the request, and appointed Monkey a position as Pi Ma-Wen…which means 'stable boy'. Monkey was pleased by the title, and happily performed his role until he found out it was a menial job, and that all the other gods were laughing at him. Enraged, he disrupted heaven, stealing and eating immortality granting peaches meant for a festival, and consuming immortality pills prepared by Lao Tsu.
Monkey fled back to his island, and established defenses as the gods pursued him. Embattled, he and his army of monkeys held off the heavenly host, who several times had to flee for reinforcements. Finally, Lao Tsu, the Boddhisattva Kuan Shi-Yin, and the Deveraja family were able to subdue him. Jade Emperor tried to have him executed, but Monkey's magic was too strong. He was placed in Lao Tsu's cauldron to be exterminated, but it only refined him, and he leapt out to cause havoc in heaven once more. Finally, Jade Emperor petitioned Buddha himself to aid them. Buddha responded, and waged a contest with Monkey. Monkey lost, and was trapped under a mountain and tormented for 500 years.
Kuan Shi-Yin organized his release, appointing the repentant monkey to be the bodyguard for a holy monk traveling from China to the Western Heaven to receive scriptures from Buddha himself. This was to be harder than it sounded, as Tripitaka, the monk sent on the mission, had practiced a virtuous life of cultivation for his last ten incarnations. This meant that eating his flesh could grant immortality to monsters, making the monk a constant target for demonic attacks.
But by then, Monkey had acquired and developed vast powers, making him a formidable bodyguard. He knew the ways of 72 transformations, and so he could change his body into anything from the size of a flea up to a massive giant. In addition, each of his hairs could be transformed as well, so by pulling a few hairs, and chewing them up, he could produce an army of copies of himself. He could disguise himself as any creature he had met, and only gods with very keen vision could see through the false form. He himself had keen vision, and he could spot disguised monsters up to 10,000 miles away during the day. He was an extremely skilled martial artist, and he knew cloud dancing, which would enable him to cover massive distances in a very short time. He also possessed a magic weapon, which he won from the Dragon Kings of the ocean. He called it his Compliant Rod, a shape-shifting stave of metal which was reported to weigh more than 13,000 pounds. He usually wore it behind his ear, the shape and size of a toothpick, but when called to battle the rod could become thicker than a battle staff, and even produce multiples of itself at his command.
In his primal form, Monkey was a smallish creature, with grim simian features and strong, wiry limbs. As he traveled among humans, his form and posture became more humanoid, but he retained his monkey face, furry body, and his tail. At the height of his power, he wore a suit of golden armor that he bullied out of the Dragon Kings. After his imprisonment he wore silk garments given to him by Kuan Shi-Yin, and a tiger pelt tied around his waist. After being cooked in Lao Tsu's cauldron his eyes were diamond hard, and had flaming red pupils.
He had very few weaknesses. He was afraid of smoke after being cooked in the cauldron, and smoke of any kind makes his hard eyes water. He is a poor fighter underwater, so his opponents would often flee into lakes or rivers to escape his wrath. He is also very poor at meditation, being completely unable to sit still. His greatest weakness was the iron crown on his head, imposed upon him by Kuan Shi-Yin. Whenever a spell was recited, it would constrict and crush his skull.
He kept watch over the monk for nearly the entire journey, becoming his disciple, along with Chu Pa-Chieh, The Sha Monk, and the Dragon Horse. He had to face many monsters, some of which were former allies from his own monstrous past. Finally the scriptures were recovered, and Sun Wu-Kung was made the Buddha of Victory Through Strife.
Monkey was a yellowed furred animal, with big ears and the power to change into more than 10,000 disguises. He had one problem of being a rambunctious and curious animal. He was hatched from the stone egg atop The Mountain. He formed a band of his own kind. After disturbing all the gods and the humans and all the new creations, the gods came up with the idea to put him in charge of the Holy Peach Trees. After a seven-day of guarding the Peach Trees, Monkey became curious on the Peaches tasted reaching for a peach he devoured it within seconds. And when Buddha came strolling through the garden and seeing the peach being eaten by Monkey he became furious. He then put Monkey to a test. He said that if he could find the edge of the world he would be able to eat all the peaches in the universe. So Monkey walked and walked and he finally came to four giant poles sticking out of the ground. Monkey thought it was the end of the world and marked his place and then written his name in the last smallest pole. He met Buddha again. He said that he had made it to the edge of the world. But wise Buddha laughed and said, "No you didn't even make it off my hand" and he showed Monkey the spot where he had marked the pole and signed his name. From then on Monkey behaved more like a god, but he is still a curious little Monkey.
The divine ape in Chinese mythology who was born from an egg which was impregnated by the wind. Being very skilled in the use of magic, he can even trick the gods. Thus he managed to obtain the peach of immortality. He is also known as Sun Wu-kong.
Sun Wu-Kung is the given name of the Monkey King. Sun, his family name, is based on the Chinese word for monkey. Wu-Kung means "pilgrim", and was given to him by his first instructor, a Taoist priest. He is also known as the Handsome Monkey King, the Monkey of the Mind, and Pi Ma-Wen, though the latter he considers quite an insult, and its use enrages him. Sun Wu-Kung is the one of the major characters in the classic tale "Journey to the West", about the Tang Monk Tripitaka and his journey to the Western Heaven to gain holy scriptures from Buddha and bring them back to China.
Sun Wu-Kung was born of primal chaos, hatching from a stone egg impregnated by the sky. He ruled over a kingdom of monkeys on a remote island, naming himself Handsome Monkey King. One day an elderly monkey passed away, and the Handsome Monkey King decided to leave the island to learn how to become immortal.
He traveled through the lands of humans, and finally he found a mountain where a Taoist priest took him on as a student. Monkey proved a very adept student at martial arts, magical transformations, and cloud dancing, an art that enabled him to leap thousands of miles with one jump. But Handsome Monkey King was mischievous, and was finally expelled for showing off.
He returned back to his island, destroyed monsters that had taken up residence there, and soon turned his eyes towards heaven, believing himself as powerful as the gods. He named himself The Great Sage, Equal to Heaven, and demanded that the Jade Emperor recognize him as such. Realizing his power, Jade Emperor granted the request, and appointed Monkey a position as Pi Ma-Wen…which means 'stable boy'. Monkey was pleased by the title, and happily performed his role until he found out it was a menial job, and that all the other gods were laughing at him. Enraged, he disrupted heaven, stealing and eating immortality granting peaches meant for a festival, and consuming immortality pills prepared by Lao Tsu.
Monkey fled back to his island, and established defenses as the gods pursued him. Embattled, he and his army of monkeys held off the heavenly host, who several times had to flee for reinforcements. Finally, Lao Tsu, the Boddhisattva Kuan Shi-Yin, and the Deveraja family were able to subdue him. Jade Emperor tried to have him executed, but Monkey's magic was too strong. He was placed in Lao Tsu's cauldron to be exterminated, but it only refined him, and he leapt out to cause havoc in heaven once more. Finally, Jade Emperor petitioned Buddha himself to aid them. Buddha responded, and waged a contest with Monkey. Monkey lost, and was trapped under a mountain and tormented for 500 years.
Kuan Shi-Yin organized his release, appointing the repentant monkey to be the bodyguard for a holy monk traveling from China to the Western Heaven to receive scriptures from Buddha himself. This was to be harder than it sounded, as Tripitaka, the monk sent on the mission, had practiced a virtuous life of cultivation for his last ten incarnations. This meant that eating his flesh could grant immortality to monsters, making the monk a constant target for demonic attacks.
But by then, Monkey had acquired and developed vast powers, making him a formidable bodyguard. He knew the ways of 72 transformations, and so he could change his body into anything from the size of a flea up to a massive giant. In addition, each of his hairs could be transformed as well, so by pulling a few hairs, and chewing them up, he could produce an army of copies of himself. He could disguise himself as any creature he had met, and only gods with very keen vision could see through the false form. He himself had keen vision, and he could spot disguised monsters up to 10,000 miles away during the day. He was an extremely skilled martial artist, and he knew cloud dancing, which would enable him to cover massive distances in a very short time. He also possessed a magic weapon, which he won from the Dragon Kings of the ocean. He called it his Compliant Rod, a shape-shifting stave of metal which was reported to weigh more than 13,000 pounds. He usually wore it behind his ear, the shape and size of a toothpick, but when called to battle the rod could become thicker than a battle staff, and even produce multiples of itself at his command.
In his primal form, Monkey was a smallish creature, with grim simian features and strong, wiry limbs. As he traveled among humans, his form and posture became more humanoid, but he retained his monkey face, furry body, and his tail. At the height of his power, he wore a suit of golden armor that he bullied out of the Dragon Kings. After his imprisonment he wore silk garments given to him by Kuan Shi-Yin, and a tiger pelt tied around his waist. After being cooked in Lao Tsu's cauldron his eyes were diamond hard, and had flaming red pupils.
He had very few weaknesses. He was afraid of smoke after being cooked in the cauldron, and smoke of any kind makes his hard eyes water. He is a poor fighter underwater, so his opponents would often flee into lakes or rivers to escape his wrath. He is also very poor at meditation, being completely unable to sit still. His greatest weakness was the iron crown on his head, imposed upon him by Kuan Shi-Yin. Whenever a spell was recited, it would constrict and crush his skull.
He kept watch over the monk for nearly the entire journey, becoming his disciple, along with Chu Pa-Chieh, The Sha Monk, and the Dragon Horse. He had to face many monsters, some of which were former allies from his own monstrous past. Finally the scriptures were recovered, and Sun Wu-Kung was made the Buddha of Victory Through Strife.
Monkey was a yellowed furred animal, with big ears and the power to change into more than 10,000 disguises. He had one problem of being a rambunctious and curious animal. He was hatched from the stone egg atop The Mountain. He formed a band of his own kind. After disturbing all the gods and the humans and all the new creations, the gods came up with the idea to put him in charge of the Holy Peach Trees. After a seven-day of guarding the Peach Trees, Monkey became curious on the Peaches tasted reaching for a peach he devoured it within seconds. And when Buddha came strolling through the garden and seeing the peach being eaten by Monkey he became furious. He then put Monkey to a test. He said that if he could find the edge of the world he would be able to eat all the peaches in the universe. So Monkey walked and walked and he finally came to four giant poles sticking out of the ground. Monkey thought it was the end of the world and marked his place and then written his name in the last smallest pole. He met Buddha again. He said that he had made it to the edge of the world. But wise Buddha laughed and said, "No you didn't even make it off my hand" and he showed Monkey the spot where he had marked the pole and signed his name. From then on Monkey behaved more like a god, but he is still a curious little Monkey.
The divine ape in Chinese mythology who was born from an egg which was impregnated by the wind. Being very skilled in the use of magic, he can even trick the gods. Thus he managed to obtain the peach of immortality. He is also known as Sun Wu-kong.
hey the Krow,for your info,monkey king is from the chinese folklore. 
i'm a Chinese,and we don't just think that it's some mythical character in some story.instead we worshipped him like a deity.i've read all about the story in a 4 part book.
yup,he was actually a mischievious monkey but it's said he was born in a rock or something by Earth,if i wasn't mistaken.he went creating all sorts of trouble on Earth and Heaven (in Chinese legends) but was finally subdued by Buddha and the Earth spirit,trapped under a mountain.and he later joined Master Monk,a Taoist monk heading to the West (India) to procure some holy scriptures.wooh it's really a long story then but great topic Krow.....
i'm a Chinese,and we don't just think that it's some mythical character in some story.instead we worshipped him like a deity.i've read all about the story in a 4 part book.
yup,he was actually a mischievious monkey but it's said he was born in a rock or something by Earth,if i wasn't mistaken.he went creating all sorts of trouble on Earth and Heaven (in Chinese legends) but was finally subdued by Buddha and the Earth spirit,trapped under a mountain.and he later joined Master Monk,a Taoist monk heading to the West (India) to procure some holy scriptures.wooh it's really a long story then but great topic Krow.....
well...maybe my book was wrong...it says japanese folklore and the monkey king is in it...i wanted to get the whole story and i went to a book store and it comes in three giant volumes
Monkey is one of my favourite TV shows
Monkey is a great program
u can learn alot about life from it i feel
born in a egg on a mountain top The punkiest monkey that ever popped He knew every magic trick under the sun
To tease the Gods
And everyone and have some fun
monkey magic monkey magic
u can learn alot about life from it i feel
born in a egg on a mountain top The punkiest monkey that ever popped He knew every magic trick under the sun
To tease the Gods
And everyone and have some fun
monkey magic monkey magic
yep...yep...
big shlong err ah I mean big foot?
And then they took the monkey king to america, mistranslated it and made a fortune...
| QUOTE (The Krow @ Sep 7 2003, 05:11 PM) |
| well...maybe my book was wrong...it says japanese folklore and the monkey king is in it...i wanted to get the whole story and i went to a book store and it comes in three giant volumes |
HeLLo,
i think you are referring to "Saru Mawashi" Saru means Monkey in Japanese.
In our country, he is a quite popular character because of Cartoons..Anime.
He is known in our country as "Alakazam". A Great Monkey God-king who gained immortality.
Actually, there are many myths about him, that is why, most of this stories where made into TV series, movies, and even into carttoon.
But the Monkey King didn't started in China, but in India. He is known as "Hanuman"
Here is a link, where you can read something about the Monlkey King "Hanuman"...http://webonautics.com/mythology/hanuman.html.
| QUOTE (Paulo @ Sep 23 2003, 04:09 PM) |
| Saru means Monkey in Japanese. |
Mmmmmmmmm, could we have uncovered the secret of our webaster's name????????????????
Monkey Man??
im thinking king kong
That's Japan.
In a odd way this reminds me of dragon ball z! The giant monkey form of saiyans and their eyes are red in that form. Then there is the flying nimbus! I think the creator of Dragon Ball Z liked the monkey king. 
QUOTE(foxgirl @ Jul 5 2006, 10:28 AM) [snapback]1258128[/snapback]
In a odd way this reminds me of dragon ball z! The giant monkey form of saiyans and their eyes are red in that form. Then there is the flying nimbus! I think the creator of Dragon Ball Z liked the monkey king.
I do believe that's what it was based on.
The story in japanese called Saiyuki, a journey to the west. The monkey king, Son Goku, along with Cho Hakkai, the pig and Sha Gojyo the Kappa they accompanied Genjyo Sanzou from China to India to find sutras. So yes...the story was originated in China.
DragonBall Z is credited for using the name of the monkey king, Son Goku.
In Chinese, Son Goku is Sun Wu Kong, Cho Hakkai is Chu Pat Kai, and I forget the name of the others
....
Anyway, here in Indonesia (my country) we also have the story of Hanuman the monkey king from the epic Ramayana, but it's not the same deity with Son Goku.
DragonBall Z is credited for using the name of the monkey king, Son Goku.
In Chinese, Son Goku is Sun Wu Kong, Cho Hakkai is Chu Pat Kai, and I forget the name of the others
....Anyway, here in Indonesia (my country) we also have the story of Hanuman the monkey king from the epic Ramayana, but it's not the same deity with Son Goku.
It seems to me that most Asian Countries has legends of Monkey Dieties.
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