Chaos & Order

What’s a trickster without some order to rebel against? There is plenty of hierarchies and structures in the many worlds of the Journey to the West for our anarchistic hero to upset. The celestial Jade Emperor is a common target, both for the satirical pen of the author Wu Cheng-en and for the disrespect of his main character, Sun Wukong. But he isn’t satisfied with disrupting the heavenly authorities and scaring the dragon kings of the four seas. If the adventures of Monkey would take place in the Greek mythology, not only Zeus and Poseidon would be threatened, even Hades would have to watch out.

In one of my favorite parts of the story, Monkey falls in a drunken sleep after a party. In a dream, messengers from Yama, the ruler of death, brings him to the underworld. Monkey is furious, he is supposed to be immortal! I’m not sure if the kings and civil servants of the land of death can fear for their lives, but they soon learn to fear the magical rod of Monkey. He demands to see the books where the life-times of all living beings are recorded.

“He looked through them all one by one, but could not find Sun Wukong's name in the sections devoted to hairless creatures, hairy creatures, feathered creatures, insects, or scaly creatures. Then he looked through the monkey section. Now although monkeys looked like men, they were not entered under the humans; although they were like the hairless creatures, they did not live within their boundaries; although they were like running animals, they were not under the jurisdiction of the unicorn; and although they were like birds, they were not ruled by the phoenix. There was another register, and Sun Wukong looked through this one himself. Under "Soul No. 1350" was the name of Sun Wukong, the Heaven−born stone monkey, who was destined to live to the age of 342 and die a good death.”

I love this part, where the obviously unclassifiable Monkey settles the matter by just erasing his name. I am sure Carolus Linnaeus would appreciate it too ;-)

Child prodigy

Monkey changed a lot since we last met him.
Heck no, he didn't "grow up". Tricksters never do.
But he got stronger, older, smarter, and more powerful. He had a trip to Heaven and back; on the former occasion he was invited, on the latter he left because he didn't like the job he got up there. So he went home to the (now immortal) monkey folk, and promised them a new home: Heaven.
Of course, the Jade Emperor and his Court can't let that happen (imagine Monkey ruling the Heavens...). So they send an army to subdue the Monkey King.
Their first troops and general are beaten in no time at all, and they go running back to the camp. And now that Heaven's army knows just how incredibly powerful the Handsome Monkey King is...
... they send a child.

This is one of my ever favorite parts of the whole story. If not the favorite.

The child is called Nezha or Na Zha, most commonly known to us by his Japanese name, Nataku (thank the anime genre for that). He is a fire deity, an enfant terrible, a child trickster himself. As the third son of Li Jing, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, he accompanies his father to the campaign against the Monkey Demon. He is very young, and looks innocent enough; when he appears in front of Old Sun, nobody runs or cowers.
Well, they should.
Tricksters like children. Also, tricksters are like children. This is why sending a kid against the feared demon is such a very nice touch to the whole story. Monkey greets the boy who shows up out of nowhere with kindness and a pat on the head.
And then the cute little boy turns into a giant warrior with three heads and six arms, holding deadly weapons.
Am I the only one here who's thinking 'I'd like to see Sun Wukong's face now'?

And thus begins the most awesome trickster vs. trickster duel in the world of Journey to the West. It is detailed in a long poem, in vivid pictures, and reading it you can imagine the full-out battle that rages agains these two between Heaven and Earth. Magic, subterfuge, tricks, shapeshifting, weapons against weapons.
Something tells me Monkey is having the time of his life here.
Among all the demons he'll fight later, along the journey, none was as equal an opponent to him as the Prince.
Also, he'd be in for some major @ss-kicking from a six-year-old if he wouldn't have the nasty habit of cheating. Which is as natural a trickster art as any, but looks like Prince Nataku hasn't gotten the hang of it yet...

(No spoliers now ;) Read the book!)

All in all, Nezha remains one of my favorite 'minor characters' in this story.
One word: EPIC.

Chapter 1 - Overview

A first version ...

• The Creation
  
• Immortal stone on the top of a mountaion on an island -> The stone gives birth to an stone egg -> From the egg a "Stone Monkey" is developed
  
• The heavenly Jade Emperor notices his birth but says it's nothing important [He will later realize his mistake ... ]
  
• The Stone Monkey meets a flock of monkeys -> They follow a river to it's source -> Monkey jumps through a waterfall and finds a comfortable cave for them to live in
• The flock crowns him their "Handsome Monkey King"
  
• He realizes that one day he will die and end up in the kingdom of Yama
  
• Paddles off on a raft over the ocean to search for The Way of Immortality -> Wanders among humans who thinks money is more important -> A woodcutter shows him the way to the cave of the immortal Patriarch Subhodi on a mountain
  
• Subhodhi accepts him as a disciple and gives him the name "Sun Wukong" - which means "Wake to Vacuity" or "Aware of Emptiness"

These "bare bones" can be expanded of course! And they could focus on different events, themes, questions or storytelling techniques. Depending on how you "read" the story. Feel free to add your own ideas!

Palace of the Dragon King

Look, look what I found!

I finally got to the first one of my many favorite parts of the story: Monkey goes to visit the Dragon King of the East and ask for the perfect weapon. Of course it cannot be any less than a magical, shapeshifting staff which is heavy enough to only be wielded by Sun Wukong, important enough that is is actually holding the Milky Way in place, and flashy enough to become the trademark attribute of the Monkey King.
What amazes me more is the realm of the dragon king itself. At the New York Metropolitan Museum I saw a small ivory carving from Japan depicting the palace of the Japanese Dragon King - it was a seashell with the palace built between its two halves. I still remember that image, and now I got curious about the Chinese version.
And guess what I found...

Reed Flute Cave

Now there is a place I'll have to visit one day.

Cultural innovators

I'm continuing Csenge's theme; what is a trickster? Some of them are cultural innovators, their anarchic curiosity sometimes produces valuable cultural progress. The nordic trickster god Loki for example, his antics gives the gods both the hammer of Thor and the eight-legged horse of Odin. But does Monkey leave us with something of value? He gives his fellow monkeys a cave de-luxe, and as we will learn later in the story, he protects them and gives them long life by erasing their names from the records of Death. And as companion to the monk Tripitaka he helps getting the books of Buddha home to China. That is, for a trickster, an uncommonly unselfish and disciplined cooperation. And a job he doesn't do completely voluntarily! His development from classical trickster to enlightened ape is one of the most fascinating stories within the story. That is not difficult to describe in a one hundred chapter long text. But how do you show it in a shorter oral storytelling performance?

Keeping secrets... NOT

What makes a trickster... The Trickster?
Two things.
(Start taking notes)

1. Shapeshifting
Change is a trickster's natural element, even more so when someone happens to be the kid of Earth and Sky like our very own Monkey King. Living halfway between Above and Below, Good and Bad, Black and White, and other famous opposites, shifting is the very core of a trickster's being. Just think. Think of all the delicious possibilities...


2. Attention craving
Having a special talent is one thing. Constantly showing it off is another. One who has an ability and uses is in secret might be a gifted person, or a masked vigilante at best - one who doesn't pass up a single chance to flash his extraordinary powers to the world and draw some attention is the one who gets labeled as a Trickster. (Or A.D.D., depending on who does the labeling)

Funny how Sun Wukong picked up both of these in a Buddhist monastery.
Well, being a showoff might have been a naural talent of his, but shapeshifting he had to learn, and he was as good a pupil as they come. And because he could not keep his knowledge secret and practice in silence, because he just had to go on and play "watch this" with the other pupils, he got kicked out. But not before he learned some very useful stuff.

This is trickster nature for you. Travel, learn what you can, use it as you like, in very creative manners, make sure no one will forget you anytime soon, then wav goodbye and walk away, towards the next glorious adventure.

So. Don't forget. Shapeshifting and attention.
Do you happen to know people like that?...
I am sure you do.

How to find the story as text, images, movies ...

There is a freely available pdf with an english translation:

Download here!




Above is beautiful series of images with what has to be a computer generated voice reading english text. I suggest reading the first part of the pdf text, and then watching this in a full size window with sound turned off.

There are many TV, movie and even manga adaptions and variations of the journey. Below is the first part of a TV series from 1986.



The video quality is quite bad, but if you want a "quick and dirty" update on what we are talking about here, watch this! On YouTube the series continues automatically. Or select "Journey to the West (with English Subtitles) 1-2" and so on when this is finished.

Monkey Funky - explanation

It's a Hungarian thing.

See, we have this musical version of the Jungle Book, with tons of fun music in it. It has been playing in the theaters for years (decades?), and most people know it by heart. Or parts of it, anyway. And this musical has one song which I simply can't resist posting here. It has a title too, but it's more commonly known as 'Monkey Funky', and guess what, it's the song of the monkey gang.

Here is the link. I hope it works.

(Don't worry about the lyrics, it doesn't make sense in Hungarian either ;)
Or, rather, it does, but it's all a huge play on words, so unless divine inspiration suddenly strikes me, I won't make an attempt at a decent translation.)

Ever since I first read the book, this song has always been connected to the Monkey King for me. I wonder why :) And now we are at the beginning, when Monkey is not even a king yet, and he doesn't have a decent name, but he does have a gang, and oh boy are they having fun feasting and dancing, and breaking stuff.

Hence the music.

Trickster's Tail

Has it really been five years since I first met the Monkey King?...

I don't even know where the idea came from. I just remember a sudden craving for Chinese. Not food. Tricksters. So off I go along the line of antique book shops that starts at the door of the University and leads all the way to Kálvin Square. And, lo and behold, in the last shop I just happen to look down onto the bottom shelf, and there It was. Two volumes of pure East Asian mythic adventure.

Tricksters tend to find their way to me somehow. Sooner or later all of them show up, and most of them decide to stick around. Funny thing is, this goes for human tricksters as well as imaginary ones.
I am not complaining.

(If you've ever tried to find this book in any city in Hungary, you probably know that this is one of Those that just can't be found when you are looking. Ever. Published 6 years before I was born, this book tends to hide out in some remote corner of cozy little bookshops, and it only pokes its head out when you are looking the other way. Not unlike tricksters.)

Now, five years later, the whole story lives in my memories as one single long adventure, from beginning to end.
(Do shoot me if I use the word 'adventure' again in this post.)
So now when I start reading it all over again, I know what to expect. And it just makes the whole thing even better.

Where to start? I honestly don't know. Sometimes I get the impression trickster tales don't necessarily start at the beginning. Then again I have to agree with Ulf, this book has a good start. It's all Mythology and Creation and Colors and Kingdoms and Rainbows and Butterflies, and then suddenly... Trickster is born to bring some Fun into the world.
Talk about a Big Bang.

From the start of the beginning

Now I know how to begin telling the story, according to the KISS gospel, Keep it Simple Stupid:

High up on the mountain, a stone with eternal life gave birth to a stone egg, and from the egg, a Monkey was hatched ...

But I am dangerously tempted to begin before the beginning, using the opportunity to tell the whole creation with all it's poetic charm, the exotic chinese flavor and the possibility to confuse listeners out of their everyday concerns and open their ears and minds for the trickster world. The text starts with the creation, why shouldn't I allow myself that pleasure? Or could I use sound or music telling the story of a chinese creation? That has to be tested and evaluated! Now I have gathered my first fruitful question along the way, and Monkey hasn't even taken his first pawstep!

Can you see, feel and hear the miraculous monkey birth in your imagination? I won't move from the mountain until I have heard the first impressions from my fellow traveller, The Multicoloured Lady or read your comments

INTRODUCTION

This here is a very special travel diary: one single long adventure in a world filled with magic, with unusual companions, a lot of excitement, and more than a bit of troublemaking.

The technical details:

Departure: China
Destination: India, Buddha's heaven
Travel time: More than you'd think and less than you'd like.
Guides: Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, and his amazing companions whom we all will meet soon.
Press and media: Ulf Ärnström, Swedish storyteller, and Zalka Csenge Virág, Hungarian storyteller.
Accomodation: right here, day and night.
Cost: only your precious time ;)

Two storytellers will guide you in three languages on this journey. What happens behind the scenes: we both started reading Journey to the West in our own languages, and here we will write down and publish our thoughts, impressions, favorite parts, musings, quotes, observations, and everything else that the Journey brings along, and whatever is born in the minds of two professional storytellers.

The point is: read with us! The book has a beautiful Hungarian and a fabulous Swedish translation, as well as many English ones. Whoever wants to come with us, join in! Even further down the road. Comment, add your thoughts, ask, tweet, send messages. Let us know what you think.

If you are not reading the book, you are still welcome! The blog will be easy to understand for everyone. At least in one of the languages... ;)