The Journey to the West: Volume I

For six to seven years, Wukong learns and works under Patriarch. Wukong gets so excited about what Patriarch teaches one day that he jumps around and is called out for his unruly behavior. When Wukong begs forgiveness, Patriarch asks him which Daoist tradition Wukong wants to follow, but Wukong doesn’t know. Patriarch explains some of the many divisions of Daoism. 

Frustrated with Wukong’s indecisiveness, Patriarch hits Wukong and walks away. Patriarch’s other pupils are angry with Wukong for taking over and cutting short the lesson, but he thinks Patriarch will teach him in secret. Wukong sneaks into Patriarch’s home at night, and Patriarch wakes to find Wukong has been waiting. Patriarch agrees to train him because Wukong correctly deciphered that he was supposed to sneak in and wait. Patriarch says, “This fellow is indeed an offspring of Heaven and Earth. If not, how could he solve so readily the riddle in my pot!” (120). 

Wukong receives knowledge and trains his breathing in secret from the other pupils. Wukong’s foundation is established; he’s entered the divine substance, as Patriarch calls it. Patriarch warns Wukong of three calamities that could befall him. However, he can’t teach Wukong how to avoid them because Wukong is not human, and the calamities happen because of the orifices of the human body. Wukong insists his body isn’t that different from a human’s, so Patriarch agrees to teach him. 

Wukong tries to prove he’s perfected the Way by flying, and Patriarch agrees to teach Wukong how to cloud-soar, which Patriarch defines as traversing “all four seas in one day” (123). The other pupils ask why Wukong gets to learn the Way, and they challenge Wukong to perform. Wukong performs some transformations. Patriarch catches him showing off and banishes him. He warns him not to tell anyone where he learned the Way. Wukong returns home, and his monkeys ask why he left for so long. The monkeys have had to deal with a monster—the Monstrous King of Havoc. Wukong goes to fight this monster and its imps. Wukong and the monster trade insults and then fight. Using what he learned from Patriarch, Wukong wins. He returns home, his monkeys celebrate him, and Wukong gives them his surname, Sun.

Given the threat the monster posed to his monkeys, Wukong trains them to be warriors and decides he needs better, metal weapons. Wukong conjures a great wind and steals all the weapons in a nearby armory. All the local animals are impressed by Wukong’s monkey army, and demons come to pay homage.

Wukong goes to see Aoguang, who offers weapons, but Wukong doesn’t like the weapons. Wukong hears about a mythic weapon from Aoguang’s mate and daughter: The weapon is too big at first, but Wukong suggests it shrink, and it does. The dragons and sea creatures fear Wukong now that he has the mythic weapon made of iron—the Compliant Golden-Hooped Rod. Wukong demands new clothes, but Aoguang has none and summons his brothers to get rid of Wukong. They end up giving in and deciding to complain to Heaven after Wukong leaves. Wukong returns home and impresses the monkeys with his new weapon.

Wukong dreams of his demise and longs again to become immortal. He dreams of fighting his way out of the Underworld. Wukong crosses out his name and all the monkeys’ names from the records of who should someday die and go to the Underworld; he is reported to Heaven once more. The monkeys celebrate Wukong’s success in earning them all immortal life. After hearing reports about Wukong, the Jade Emperor, who rules Heaven, agrees to arrest Wukong. The Jade Emperor wants to know who Wukong is and how he learned the Way. The Jade Emperor agrees to a suggestion from a member of his court to employ Wukong in Heaven in order to control him. Wukong follows a summons to meet the Jade Emperor in Heaven.

Wukong arrives at the gates of Heaven, and heroes bar his way, but the Gold Star guides him through the gates and models how to bow down to the Jade Emperor—but Wukong doesn’t, at least not until he’s addressed. The Jade Emperor forgives Wukong’s lack of manners. Wukong is sent to supervise the imperial stables and is honored. Wukong later asks what his rank and title are, only to learn he is the lowest ranked employee of Heaven. He grows angry, threatens to quit and leave, then fights his way out of Heaven. When he returns home, his monkeys tell him he’s been gone for more than a decade. Demon kings come to serve Wukong, who demands to be addressed only as The Great Sage, Equal to Heaven.

When the Jade Emperor finds out about Wukong’s exit from Heaven, he vows to capture Wukong. A series of expeditions to capture the monkey king are made, but all are unsuccessful. Wukong even threatens to attack Heaven if the Jade Emperor won’t acknowledge his new title. After several battles, the Jade Emperor orders Wukong’s execution but settles on giving Wukong an empty title to mollify him. Wukong goes to Heaven to accept his empty title, a mansion, servants, and gifts.

Wukong lives an easy life in his mansion in Heaven and makes friends whom he visits all day long. It comes to the Jade Emperor’s attention that Wukong is idle, so the Emperor tells him to care for the Garden of Immortal Peaches, which grant different levels of immortality to any who eat them, depending on which trees they grow on. As the peaches ripen, Wukong wants to eat one. He tricks immortals so he can feast on them in the orchard and continues to steal them over the next few days, even trapping some maidens who are sent to pick them for the Queen Mother’s Grand Festival of Immortal Peaches. He then lies and disguises himself as another immortal to gain access to the treasure chamber, where he finds holy wine and gets drunk from it. 

Next, he steals golden elixir from the Most High Laozi. He realizes that the Jade Emperor will be angry with him and flees to Earth to rule over his monkeys and hide from the Emperor. He is welcomed home with a banquet. In Heaven, the maidens are free and report that Wukong had trapped them to devour many of the peaches. The Jade Emperor seeks Wukong at his mansion and is furious to learn that Wukong has returned to Earth. The Emperor summons an army to apprehend Wukong. The army surrounds Wukong’s mountain, and Wukong tries to ignore them, but he must fight in a massive battle. Wukong wins, even though everyone in his army except the monkeys are captured. Wukong consoles his monkeys and promises revenge for the captured.