Thoughts on reading Monkey by Wu Ch'êng-ên.

A wonderfully entertaining folk tale, our journey with the mischievous Monkey takes us through magical realms with memorable patrons, with biting satire and witty commentary sprinkled throughout. The book begins with Monkey’s quest for immortality and acquisition of his all-powerful cudgel. Once in possession of the powers and transformations of the gods, Monkey leaves his mountain and his subjects to embark upon rambunctious and hilarious escapades in heaven and on earth, leading to Monkey’s eventual downfall and imprisonment. The final act of the book see’s Monkey freed by an enlightened priest who enlist Monkey as a priest to bring buddhist scriptures from India to China. Along this Quixote Esque journey, fools and simpletons are deputized as wholly priests, disrespectful and disgraced kings are re-coronated, dragon-kings are tricked and farmers’ children are saved from cannibalistic monsters.

I found Monkey’s search for eternal life during the juvenile stages of this epic extremely interesting and very informing. As Monkey is learning the art of cloud riding, his disciples quip: “‘Monkey is in luck. If he learns this trick, he will be able to carry dispatches, deliver letters, take round circulars – one way or another he will always be able to pick up a living!’” (26). Though I do not accuse Monkey’s disciples of performing philosophical satire, this remark forces the reader to recon with what one might do with unlimited power and time. Is it true, as the underlings suggest, that we will fill up our eternal time with eternal tasks? And does this frame of reference then posit that a natural death is equivalent to a termination of work; is passing away amenable with saying a job well done? The book disagrees with the little apes; ending with the scrolls in China and Monkey achieving enlightenment; arguing that there is an end to eternity, brought about when one accepts the glorious and holy truth. Yet this answer conflicts with the lived experiences of the unenlightened throughout the book. Time and time again we are introduced to farmers and peasants and priests and demons and gods whose menial problems are handled in short manner and are returned to their unenlightened beings.

Aside from such questions of life and death, the folk tale pokes fun at authority, bureaucracies, and religions; as with each page we see how the title of “The Great Sage Equal to Heaven” is an apropos title for a mischievous imp from a far away mountain.

I truly enjoyed reading this book, and I look forward to furthering my exploration of easter literature, a category severely underrepresented in my personal cannon.