Monkey is a folk novel of china written by Wu Chengen in the sixteenth century. This book is considered one of the most admired and classic novels of the country. Monkey is a fictional account of Xuan Zang’s journey to India. He visited India with four other disciples, as per the instructions of Buddha to gain knowledge of sutras. These four were also the protectors of xuan zang during his journey and saved him at various occasions. The book is an interesting compilation of several incidents which keeps the readers attached throughout with the book. There are almost hundred chapters in the book that deals with this historical pilgrimage, story of monkey and Hsuan Tsang.
The book, Monkey is a combination of history, religion, absurdity, anti bureaucracy and literature. In monkey, sometimes confusion arises that against whom the satire has been used. Sometime it seems that the satire has been used against bureaucracy but since it is just next to impossible to criticize bureaucracy, it seems to be used against the religion in several instances. Bureaucracy is something like the extension of heavenly kingdom on the earth. Hierarchy is supposed to be respected and there is no confusion left for any body in this regard. The kings and their kin are considered like heavenly people and are blessed with special divine rights and privileges. As per Chinese beliefs, the whole heavenly body has been shifted on the earth as bureaucracy. The effort to maintain their supremacy has been backed by several similar stories. Though Hsuan Tsang does not believe in this theory and always stands with the common man.
The monkey, also known as stone monkey and the reason behind his name is that he was born from a rock. Due to his courage and capacity, he became the first one who reached in the caves of water curtain on a mountain of flowers. After his act of bravery, he was named as the monkey king by his family and friends. He was blessed with some unusual powers and there was nobody as powerful as him. After this incident, he attacked on the kingdom of heaven and defeated a huge powerful army led by four eminent lieutenants of the heaven. The emperor of the heaven offered him a high place in his empire considering that after getting the post and respect, the monkey king will stop harassing the people of heaven but the monkey king did not stop harassing them. The emperor had no option but to make an appeal to Buddha and then the monkey was captivated by Buddha and was imprisoned for five hundred years in the mountains of five fingers and got freedom only when the Hsuan Tsang, in the beginning of his pilgrimage came across the monkey king. Monkey king was in quest of immortality and in search of the mortality, he roamed at a number of places, he was very confident and courageous but his greed was increasing day by day and this was a reason why he was punished with the imprisonment of five hundred years.
Hsuan Tsang is a very humble Buddhist monk and he decided to go to India for the sutras. Hsuan Tsang has been instructed to visit India by the tang dynasty. The monk is holy thinking and ardent believer of Buddha and always wanted to be a monk and to do something in his life. He is accompanied by four protectors in this historic journey. When this great journey begins, all the pilgrims face a number of problems and dangers. In the journey of life also, people face a number of obstacles and dangers but they should not be afraid of these fears and should move forward on the path that takes them to the desired destination. In this journey, Hsuan Tsang has guided and led the way. He keeps a watch on the disciples and even reprimands them when their behavior is not appropriate. The Master admonishes them by quoting scripture; "'To be virtuous without instruction is superhuman. To be virtuous after instruction is reasonable. To be instructed and remain incorrigible is to be a fool.' You three have just shown yourselves to be fools of the very lowest description." Finally the group of pilgrims crosses every obstacle and reaches at the desired destination.
The book is well acclaimed novel, written sometime in sixteenth century. This is one of the most famous and read books in the china. Due to availability of its translated version, this book is read and admired in other parts of the world. The book is interesting, entertaining and educative, since it gives a good account of Buddhism and places, people love reading the same by religious and historical reasons. Another angle of this book is that the Chinese have never been adhered to one. They have tendency to change and in this book also a glimpse of journey from Tao to Buddhism have been given.
Work Cited
Cheng-en, Wu. Monkey. London: Penguin Books Ltd, 2005.
