Journey to the West was written by Wu Ch’eng-en (1500?–1582), a scholar-official and is one of the renowned classical Chinese novels about an allegorical rendition of the journey, mingled with Chinese fables, fairy tales, legends, superstitions, popular beliefs, monster stories, as well as, whatever the author could find in the Taoist and Buddhist religions. It was based on a true story of a famous Chinese monk, Xuan Zang (602–664). After years of trials and tribulations, he traveled on foot to what is today India, the birthplace of Buddhism, to seek for the Sutra, the Buddhist holy book. When he returned to China he started to translate the sutras into Chinese, thus making a great contribution to the development of Buddhism in China.
Monkey King is a rebellious extraordinary being, born out of a rock, fertilized by the grace of heaven. Being extremely smart and capable, he learned all the magic tricks and gong fu from a master Taoist. He was able to transform himself into seventy-two different images such as a tree, a bird, a beast of prey, or a bug as small as a mosquito, so he could sneak into an enemy’s belly to fight him inside out. Using clouds as a vehicle he could travel 180,000 miles in a single somersault. His favorite weapon in his later feats was a huge iron bar that supposedly served as a ballast for the seas and could expand or shrink at its owner’s command.
He claimed to be the king, in defiance of the only authority over heaven, the seas, the earth and the subterranean world—Yu Huang Da Di, or the Great Emperor of Jade in Chinese. This act of high treason, coupled with complaints from the masters of the four seas and hell, invited the relentless scourge of the heavenly army.
After many showdowns, the emperor had to offer the monkey an official title to appease him. Enraged he revolted, fighting all his way back to earth to resume his own claim as a king after learning that the position he held was nothing but a stable keeper. Eventually, the heavenly army subdued him, only after many a battle, with the help of all the god warriors. However, having a bronze head and iron shoulders, all methods of execution failed and the monkey dulled many a sword inflicted upon him. As a last resort, the emperor commanded that he be burned in the furnace where his Taoist minister Tai Shan Lao Jun refines his pills of immortality.
