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Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 23:47:31 -0500
From: "Anbumani. S"
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Subject: [agathiyar] FYI - The Monkey King of China
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For your information.

- Anbu.

The Monkey King of China ('Eastern Wisdom', Michael Jordan)

The story of Sun Hou Tzu, the Monkey King, and Hsuan Tsang, a Buddhist
monk
with a mission to recover the religious texts of Buddhism from India,
has
remained an important part of Chinese tradition. It is partly a
vicarious
and humorous entertainment, an adventure story akin in certain aspects
to the
Hindu epic of Ramayana. .....

Sun Hou Tzu is also known in some versions as Sun Wu Kong but his title,
as
the 'Monkey King', was conferred upon him by the Jade Emperor, Yu Huang
or
Shang Ti. According to tradition he emerged from a rock on a mountain
known
as Hua Shan (Grand Mountain) in Shensi province.

The story goes that, when still young, Sun Hou Tzu developed both a
wanderlust
and an exaggerated opinion of his own importance which was exacerbated
when he
was given a magical weapon by the Ryujin Dragon King named Ao Kuang. He
soon
began to abuse the powers of this device and the Jade Emperor elected to
punish him by giving menial job of groom in the Celestial Stables. Sun
Hou Tzu
rapidly became disenchanted with this role and made his way back to Hua
Shuan
where he got up to more mischief whilst his conceit grew larger.
Improbably,
he was given the task of gurading the Peaches of Immortality for the
Empress
of the Western Heaven, Hsi Wang Mu, but only managed to eat them
himself.

Eventually Sun Hou Tzu's escapades came to the attention of the
celestial
court which decreed that he must be executed. However, since Sun Hou Tzu
had eaten all the Peaches of Immortality, the punishment was good only
in
theory. The 'buddha, his patience close to exhaustion, demanded to know
what would satisfy his craving for power and glory, to which Sun Hou Tzu
replied that nothing less than being 'Ruler of the Universe' would
suffice.
The buddha agreed, though only if Sun Hou Tzu could jump beyond his
reach.
The Monkey King leapt so high that he touched the limites of the
universe,
where he signed his name to prove he had been there but, on his return,
the buddha revealed the signature written on his palm and Sun Hou Tzu
was forced to admit defeat.

The buddha decided to put Sun Hou Tzu's craving for adventure to more
constructive use adn instructed him to protect the monk Hsuan Tsang on
his
sacred mission. The journey was clearly destined to be both long and
arduous.
. . .
Eventually, after a trek that took them through nine kingdoms and lasted
for fourteen years, the party reached India where Hsuan Tsang obtained
5048 volumes of the sacred texts of Buddhism. He returned with them to
China, accompanied by Sun Hou Tzu, and presente dthe scriptures to the
emperor Tai Kung.

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