In that period of his life, Sun Wukong would also battle various enemies such as the Dragon King of the sea and various sea demons. Growing among other monkeys and animals, Sun Wukong also managed to become their king or the so-called King of Monkeys after several feats, such as jumping into a waterfall and swimming upstream. As he grew, he also became more monkey-like, meaning that the stone turned into flesh and he grew a thick coat of hair. Left to his own devices, Sun Wukong eventually befriended some of the other animals on the mountain. Hearing this, the Jade Emperor quickly lost interest. When they returned they told him it was just a stone monkey and that the light died down when the monkey ate or drank water. Curious, the emperor sent two of his officers to investigate. The beams shone up toward the palace of the Jade Emperor in Heaven and startled the deity. To make his birth even more interesting, once Sun Wukong opened his eyes, two golden light beans started shooting out of them. At the same time, the inception of the egg from the yin and yang is a very Taoist concept. This origin story is similar to that of the Hindu Monkey deity Hanuman who was also born when the wind (or the Hindu God of Wind Vayu) blew upon a rock. As the wind blew past the egg it turned into a stone monkey that immediately started crawling and walking. In Sun Wukong’s case, yin and yang turned the magic rock into a womb within which an egg was hatched.Įventually, the egg broke the stone and was left exposed to the elements. The combination of these two Universal constants is what creates the life inside the stone similar to how Pan Gu, the Taoist creation deity, is created by yin and yang in the cosmic egg. yang or “positive nature”) but it also receives nurture from the Earth (yin or “negative nature”). Part of the stone’s magic was that it receives nurture from Heaven (i.e. The monkey was born inside a large magic stone that stood atop Mount Huahuo, or the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit. The way Sun Wukong comes into being is both unique and somewhat familiar. He also discovered many fantastic weapons and armor throughout his life, including his signature eight-ton staff weapon that could shrink to the size of a toothpick or grow into a giant weapon. Some of these abilities Sun Wukong was born with, while others he developed or discovered on his travels. The Monkey King was also able to magically freeze people into position mid-fight.He possessed weather manipulation abilities.Sun Wukong could also create copies or mirror images of himself.The Monkey King could transform himself into 72 different animals.Sun Wukong could run “with the speed of a meteor”.He had immense strength, enough to hold two celestial mountains on his shoulders.Sun Wukong’s amazing powersīefore going into his story, let’s quickly list all the phenomenal abilities and powers Sun Wukong possessed: Even though the Journey to the West novel was written (only) five centuries ago, Sun Wukong is viewed as a core character in Chinese mythology, albeit a new one.
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