Posted on Monday 17 May 2004

The Monkey King was returned to the Crystal Palace by the heavenly troops and tied to a post.The Jade Emperor ordered Wu-k'ung cut into pieces.But neither sword nor spear could hurt even a hair on Wu-k'ung's body.	The gods were at a loss at what to do.Lao-chun had a suggestion, "Since he has eaten the fruit and elixir of immortality and has drunken the magic wine, he cannot be easily killed.We had better put him into the furnace and when his body is burned, the elixirs he has eaten will be left at the bottoms."
Lao-chun dragged Wu-k'ung to the Tou Shuai Palace.He pushed Wu-k'ung into the furnace and order the furnace keepers to fan the flames with great force.	Wu-k'ung was kept in the furnace for forty-nine days.Lao-chun was just about to open the furnace when the Monkey King leaped out.He had survived by standing in the draft of the fans.The flames never caught him, but the smoke had turned his eyes red.
The furnace keepers tried desperately to hold back Wu-k'ung, but he knocked them down.Then Wu-k'ung struck down lao-chun.	The Monkey King took the enchanted staff from his ear and strentched it wide.Then he made such a great disturbance in heaven that neither the gods nor the four great heavenly kings dared to fight with him again.
Wu-k'ung could not be stopped.Cheng Chun the on-duty god, nervously dispatched thirty-six generals to besiege him.The Jade Emperor hurriedly sent for Buddha	Buddha left the Lei Yin Temple and went to the Heavenly Palace accompanied by two gods.Buddha used his great powers to stop Wu-k'ung's attack.The Monkey King angrily cried, "Who dares to stop me?"

Here is an excerpt from the classic 16th century Chinese novel, Journey to the West by Wu Ch'eng-en. Ostensibly it's the story of the journey made by the (real) monk Xuan Zang to India in the 7th century to collect Buddhist scriptures but the monk is continually upstaged by the true protagonist of the tale, Sun Wukong, the supernatural monkey god.


>This story is one of my all time favourites. It's a fable that's simply awe inspiring in its scope but is also laced with lots of humour and lots of action. Despite the era in which it was written, it has a surprisingly cinematic quality about it which has lent itself to numerous screen adaptations over the years. I can heartily recommend this translation (however I'm now looking for a good unabridged version) and, if you can find it on cable or DVD, be sure to check out this terrific early 80's Japanese TV series dubbed by the BBC (though, admittedly, certain Chinese purists I know can't stand it).

More of the excerpt here.