Monkey: A Folk Novel of China

“I am afraid philosophy is no better than a prop in the wall.”

When Monkey first seeks religion, he has a lengthy discussion with his teacher as to which specific area he should study. They go back and forth many times, with the master suggesting a topic, Monkey asking if that topic will grant him long life, and the master responding as above, with a vague analogy that Monkey insists he does not understand. Monkey’s desire for a straightforward answer is at odds with the religious man’s tendency to speak indirectly.

“Nothing in the world is difficult […] it is only our own thoughts that make things seem so.” 

Subodhi says this to Monkey in response to Monkey thinking that cloud-soaring sounds difficult. Subodhi’s statement resonates with Monkey, and his actions and statements after learning cloud-soaring reflect that resonance. Though occasionally he gets upset and complains, Monkey’s typical response to any challenge is to laugh in its face and say that it’s nothing to worry about. 

“The proverb says ‘It’s no use the Dragon King pretending he’s got no treasures.’” 

Proverbs play a large role in the story, with characters citing them to each other often in regular conversation to make a point. Contemporary readers would likely have been familiar with many of the proverbs Wu uses throughout the text.

“Why should Heaven’s halls have always one master? In earthly dynasties king succeeds king.” 

Monkey, after gaining great power, forms too high an opinion of himself and his power and aims for the seat of Heaven. Buddha learns this when he comes to deal with Monkey following his capture by Erh-lang and Lao Tzu. Monkey’s ambitions are too great, and he must be punished for trying to take over Heaven by force rather than seeking his own enlightenment on his own path. 

“But there is a proverb: ‘What is said on the road is heard in the grass.’” 

Characters not only use proverbs to justify their actions; Wu also takes inspiration from proverbs for episodes in the story. In this case, the proverb inspires a moment in which a servant of a dragon king overhears a conversation between two men about a fortune-teller. Wu uses phrases his audience would have been familiar with to support his narrative and make it feel more relatable.

“Ts’ui, whose duty it was to keep the archives […] found that [the king of T’ang] was destined to die in the thirteenth year of the period Chêng-kuan. He quickly seized a brush and added three strokes.” 

Though the registers of death are supposedly unalterable and predetermined, several times in the story they are altered with surprising ease—and none of the Judges of the Dead seem to notice that anything has been changed. Ts’ui helps the Emperor live an additional 20 years with a simple addition of a few brush strokes to his entry.

“This is the Great Hsiang Kuo Temple that still stands to-day.”

Wu weaves bits of actual history into the story along with the mythology, proverbs, religious tenets, and allegory. Though not immediately relevant to the story of Tripitaka’s quest, the Emperor’s donation of money for the creation of a temple ties loosely into the story of how the Emperor came to send Tripitaka to the West. Adding in a real-world tie-in adds to the richness of the story and helps make the mythology feel more real.

“‘I hope,’ said Tripitaka, ‘to be back in three years.’” 

As an ordinary man who has spent his entire life in religion, Tripitaka is well intentioned but knows little about the wider world. To both him and the Emperor, three years seems like a very long time. Tripitaka has no idea that his journey will take slightly over 10 years—a sign that he genuinely doesn’t understand the terrain and potential difficulties that lie on the road between China and India. 

“It is the heart alone that can destroy them.”

Again showing his utter naiveté, Tripitaka says this to the priests at the beginning of his journey in response to their suggestions that the world is a dangerous place. In his ignorance of the world, Tripitaka believes that faith alone will save him from everything simply because he made a vow before Buddha and intends to carry it out. He is both admirable in his devotion to his mission and pitiable in his lack of understanding. 

“During the course of your journey you will at all times enjoy the assistance of spiritual beings, who will see to it that you do not succumb to the perils that will beset you on your path.” 

Shortly after Tripitaka’s original followers are eaten, the Spirit of the Planet Venus helps him and lets him know that he will not be alone on his journey. Essentially, Tripitaka’s success is assured from the beginning through divine intervention—though he reacts to challenges on his journey as though the outcome is not predetermined. 

“Tripitaka wrung his hands in despair, clutched at the hunter’s sleeve and wept copiously.”

Tripitaka’s first and often only response to challenges, setbacks, and difficulties is to burst into tears and insist the problem cannot be overcome. While he is an uncommon man in the depth of his piety, Tripitaka is very common in representing the ordinary man as a whole and in his reliance on others—and on divine intervention—to get him through his journey. He can accomplish almost none of his journey without assistance of some kind.  

“If now that you have repented and become a priest you go on behaving as in old days, you can’t come with me to India.”

When Monkey and Tripitaka first start traveling together, they do not understand each other well. Monkey behaves as he did 500 years prior, which does not befit a believer of the Faith. As Monkey is still clinging to his ego at this point in the story, this scolding from Tripitaka causes Monkey to leave in a huff. He has not yet learned how to be patient and open to criticism. 

“‘[P]riests must always be careful to tell the truth. […] I used to wear [this cap and coat] when I was young,’ replied Tripitaka, saying the first thing that came into his head.” 

Wu uses humor frequently throughout the story. In this example, Tripitaka scolds Monkey, insisting that priests must always tell the truth, but moments later he tells a lie about the origin of the cap and coat that Kuan-yin has given him to help him control Monkey. 

“For if we don’t bring off this scripture business, I shall turn layman again and live with you as your son-in-law.” 

Pigsy is the roughest and least adept of Tripitaka’s disciples. From the moment of his joining Tripitaka, he starts making contingency plans in case their quest is unsuccessful. Pigsy never loses that attitude, continuing to say he’ll just go home if things don’t work out all the way until the group reaches its destination. 

“I thought I was to be an acolyte, but this is more like being a slave.” 

Along with his lack of belief in their journey, Pigsy also complains constantly about everything he is asked to do. Though he is by far the strongest, and the clear choice for manual labor, he gripes about being made to carry things, wishing instead that he could be lazy and do nothing. He does not understand that each pilgrim has a role to play based on their unique talents. 

“Let them kill you, indeed, if they want to.” 

During their first adventure together, Monkey and Tripitaka haven’t learned to communicate effectively. As part of his plan for dealing with the prince of Crow-cock, Monkey tells Tripitaka to let the prince’s men kill him if needed. Tripitaka does not think that’s a good idea, but Monkey shrugs it off as something he could deal with. Monkey still has much to learn about protecting his master.

“The only obstacle is that you have a partiality […] you have a preference for [Pigsy] because he is so strong.” 

Monkey’s cleverness helps him manipulate Tripitaka into doing what he wants. He knows that Tripitaka is afraid of everything, so rather than ask to take Pigsy with him into Crow-cock, Monkey plays on Tripitaka’s feelings of wanting to treat everyone equally, suggesting that Tripitaka prefers Pigsy. Monkey’s trick works, and Tripitaka allows Pigsy to go with Monkey.

“Alas, poor Emperor […] in some forgotten existence you doubtless did great wrong to one that in this incarnation has now confounded you, and brought you to destruction.” 

Tripitaka guesses, nearly correctly, that the Emperor of Crow-cock has the troubles he does because of some part wrong. Tripitaka believes that it must be something the emperor did in a past life, but in this case, the emperor committed a wrong against a holy spirit in his current life and is being punished for it. 

“For Pigsy had in his early days eaten living things, and even monstrously devoured human flesh, so that all his stock of breath was defiled. Whereas Monkey had always lived on pine-seeds, cypress cones, peaches and the like, and his breath was pure.” 

Vegetarianism is not required in all forms of Buddhism but is a common practice, as all life has sanctity. Pigsy’s breath is contaminated due to his diet of meat, so he cannot be the one to breathe life back into the Emperor of Crow-cock. Monkey, being a vegetarian, can perform the task and help bring the emperor back to life. 

“I complained to Buddha, who sent this creature to throw the king into the well, and let him remain there three years as a retaliation for the three days that I was in the river.” 

At the end of the adventure in Crow-cock, the pilgrims learn the reason behind the king’s suffering. He was rude to a Bodhisattva disguised as a common man, and after the Bodhisattva complained to Buddha, the king was punished for his poor behavior. This explanation highlights the text’s theme of divine intervention and the karmic cycle.

“We have really never taken this ape seriously enough. We should have taken a very different tone about him if we had known he was capable of such a performance as this!” 

Pigsy has a poor attitude about most things in life, and in particular, he gets tired of Monkey very easily. Pigsy thinks that Monkey thinks too much of himself. However, after witnessing Monkey be beheaded and have his guts ripped out in Cart Slow, Pigsy forms a new appreciation of Monkey’s skills. His appreciation does not entirely stick, but he starts to respect Monkey slightly more.

“[W]hen I left the Capital, I thought it an easy matter to go to India. Little I knew that at every turn demons would bar my path, and endless rivers and mountains have to be crossed.” 

Tripitaka’s lack of understanding about the real world is one of his primary qualities. He volunteers to get the scriptures from India because he is a pious man and wants to do the right thing, but he has no idea that the world is full of monsters and difficult terrain, and he does not seem to realize that without Monkey and his other disciples, he would never have been able to make the trip at all. 

“It is a goldfish that I reared in my lotus pond. Every day it used to put its head out and listen to the scriptures, thus acquiring great magical powers.” 

Unlike most events in the story, the problems with the monster at The River that leads to Heaven are not a product of intentional divine interference. Instead, the monster is a creature raised by Kuan-yin that manages to steal enough knowledge to become powerful and then escapes through an accident. This set of coincidences and unplanned events is unique.