Compare "Sun Wukong and Hanoman"

Sun Wukong

The title of Sun Wukong's Story of Chaos the Sky originally 'Da Nao Tiàn Gòng' (Great Riot in the Palace
of Heaven) is a part of the novel Journey to the West, which is one of the 4 classic Chinese novels. Here
only the first part is discussed. Where the monkey king Sun Wukong entered the sky palace, and his
dissatisfaction with his appointment as a steward of the horse, caused a lot of chaos. In everyday
Chinese usage the term 'Da Nao Tiàn Gòng' is very popular to say 'troublemaker'. Sun Wukong in Asia is
very well known as Goofy, Superman, Spongebob or Cinderella in the western world. With the Japanese
name Sun Goku, the monkey king is also starting to be liked in Europe, through the DragonBallZ manga
series.

Novel Writing Period

The author of the novel Journey to the West (xi yoú jì) is Wu Cheng'en, a medieval official from Huai'an
in Jiangsu, a province that was until recently a densely populated and prosperous province. Wu
Cheng'en was born in 1500 and died in 1582. He lived in the same era with Michelangelo, Martin Luther,
Giordano Bruno who in 1600 was burned alive in Campo dei Fiori near Rome for saying that the universe
is infinite in size. This novel was published in 1590. During the same period, in Europe Miguel de
Cervantes with Don Quijotte brought him immortality (1605); and William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
with Romeo and Julia giving life to the world of literature.

Novel Contents

The travel novel to the West tells the story of priest Xuanzang's journey to India during the Tang
Dynasty in the 8th century. Pastor Xuanzang got an assignment from Bodhisattva Guanyin to take
Mahayana scrolls to China. Emperor Taizong at that time was still living in the city of Xi'an, which is
world famous for its Terracotta army. There still stands the wild goose pagoda, which marks the
beginning and end of Xuanzang's journey. It was there that he wrote travel reports, on his return from a
trip to the west and transcribed scrolls of manuscripts from Sanskrit to Chinese. Xuanzang was awarded
the name Tripitaka from the Emperor, which in Sanskrit means 'Three Baskets'. The 657 scrolls he took
from India were placed in 3 large baskets.
 This story takes place after the heavens, at the insistence of Buddha, decided that humans in the
southern hemisphere whose lives follow too much greed, pleasure, polygamy and sin, with the help of
the Mahayana text, many spirits can be exempt from punishment. The journey to the west deals with
only a few of the religious points of view contained in the Mahayana text, which was taken by pilgrims
from India.

The story is divided into 2 parts. The first part concentrates on the story of the monkey king Sun
Wukong. The first part tells about his birth from a stone egg, his career to become a monkey king and
his way of life as a disciple of the Taoist sect, so great, that he was invincible and immortal. Over his
dissatisfaction with his diplomatic rejection of the position that should have been obtained in the sky
kingdom, Sun Wukong caused trouble by messing up in the sky. This riot in the sky was put out by
Buddha; and Sun Wukong was sentenced to the 5 Element Mountain for 500 years. With the mantra
Om Mani Padme Hum the mountain was sealed by Buddha. So even though Sun Wukong had high
knowledge, he was powerless to break free.

This is followed by the middle section which tells the origins of Xuanzang, and the events from the life
of the Emperor. The next part is the main part, telling a true journey to the west. Divided into 81
Adventures that Xuanzang had to pass, in order to get the scrolls of manuscripts that would be handed
over to the Emperor and obtain immortality for himself. Guanyin here plays a very important role. The
very first thing he took care of was so that Tripitaka would not be alone in facing dangers on the way.
He met Sun Wukong at the mountain prison and was allowed to release him. The nature of Sun
Wukong's monkey poses many risks on the way. To control it, Guanyin put an iron ring on Sun Wukong's
head, which could shrink if Tripitaka recited a certain prayer and caused a terrible headache.

Then the two of them met a dragon, who had swallowed Tripitaka's horse. After knowing who he was
dealing with, the Naga transformed into a strong and smart horse to take Tripitaka on a long journey to
India. The dragon's fate is similar to that of Sun Wukong, who was promised forgiveness by Guanyin if
they succeeded in helping the Tripitaka work. The Dragon was sentenced to death by his father, the
king of the Dragon of the West Sea, because he accidentally burned the palace, which resulted in the
magic pearl being damaged.
 Guanyin can avoid harsh punishment from the Dragon king, only on condition that the Dragon must
serve the Tripitaka. In almost the same way, also the pig demon Zhu Bajie and the water demon Sha
Wujing became members of the journey. Start a long journey, full of difficulties, dangers, might, and
fights against humans, ghosts and jinn that must be defeated. They recognized the tripitaka as holy
priests, who, if eaten alive, would make them immortal. There were always situations where it seemed
that only Thian could help the brave Tripitaka. And not infrequently, only with Guanyin's interference
can they survive. Finally, the purpose of the trip was reached, and all the members of the trip got their
respective rewards. Many chapters contain critical satire of contemporary phenomena.

The novelist Wu Cheng'en, takes up the last Ming Dynasty decade, including incidents at that time such
as corruption, tyranny of officials and palace intrigue; as a pattern for parts of the story, especially the
depiction of the state and situation of the royal palace of the sky and its officials. There is also a chapter
that tells about Tridharma, which since ancient times in China has filled one another. Taoism,
Confucianism and Buddhism, which since the 1st century has spread along the silk road. The narrative
structure Journey to the West is commensurate with the story of the mighty journey of the European
literary tradition. Starting from Herakles, Don Quichotte, until the application of this story in Hollywood
productions such as Star Wars, which brings readers or viewers to a world of fantasy or myth.

Historical Background

The essence of this story is historically proven, Xuanzang was born in 603 and died in 664, so he lived
during the Tang Dynasty. He traveled along the silk road in 629-645. In the past many Buddhist priests
made nearly the same journey, following the pioneering example of Buddhism's early entry into China.
Starting from the early 1st century, Buddhism has taken a place in Tridharma besides Tao and
Confucianism. Not far from Bodhi Gaya, where the famous Bodhi tree, under which Sidharta Gotama
was once enlightened to become a Buddha, is the city of Nalanda. That is where the founding of the
largest Buddhist university in the world at that time. In search of a Buddhist heritage, the young priest
Xuanzang went in 629 to India.
 Nothing could hold him back, neither the muggers nor the sandstorms in Gobi and Taklamakan, or the
snow mountains in the Pamir and Hindukusch. After 17 years he returned with the scrolls of the
Manuscripts from the waters of Ganga, and devoted another 19 years to interpretation, translation and
understanding. In addition, Xuanzang was a very good scholar. In India as well as in China, he is known
for his intelligence. One of the reasons why he became famous is one of his articles in scientific
discussions, where it was asked whether Lao Tsu was the teacher of Siddharta Gautama. Xuanzang
argued that this could not be true, and because of this he became less liked by some of his fellow
countrymen.

Sun Wukong the Monkey King

The real main role holder is the monkey king Sun Wukong. First of all, it shows the birth of Sun Wukong
from a stone egg, fertilized by the wind, created from the starch of the sky, the best fragrance from the
earth, the power of the sun and the beauty of the moon. He was the first monkey who dared to leap
the curtain of the waterfall onto the mountain of flowers and trees. There he discovered a new world
and brought the monkey people there. As a token of gratitude, Sun Wukong was made king of all
monkeys. But not long after, Sun Wukong learned that in order to make his happiness more perfect, he
still lacked one thing, namely a long and immortal life. And so Sun Wukong went on a journey to find a
Master. Although at first he was hesitant, but in the end Sun Wukong was also taken as a disciple by the
religious elder of Tao Subhuti.

His name is Sun Wukong which means "empty consciousness" which he received from Subhutti. He
learned to fly above the clouds, flips through the clouds through 108,000 li, 72 transformations (in
human form, flies, dice) and on the basis of his strength, intelligence and ambition, he finally acquired
the power of immortality. This made him arrogant and arrogant, so Subhuti was eventually expelled.
Previously, Sun Wukong was sworn in to keep his teacher secret. Subhuti felt sure that Sun Wukong
would end up badly. Regardless of his teacher's thoughts, Sun Wukong ran rampant with his courage
until he finally had to face the army of the sky kingdom. Because Sun Wukong's knowledge was truly
great, the generals of the sky troops could not catch him to be prosecuted.

His most extraordinary ability is to pluck fur and blow it from the palm of his hand, so that he turns into
a thousand in number. The sky royal troops were increasingly worried about the situation, only Buddha
managed to conquer it. Buddha invited the monkey king to bet. Sun Wukong had to try to fly out of his
palm. Sun Wukong flew with extraordinary strength to the ends of the world, there he found 5 pillars.
There was one pole he wrote his name on, on the back of the other he peed.

He proudly flew back to the Buddha's palm, where he found the graffite which had not dried on
Buddha's finger and the smell of urine on the back of the other. Buddha locked Sun Wukong under the
5 elements mountain, so that he would reflect on his mistakes. Only pilgrim priests to the west were
allowed to release him, and that could only be done with the help of Guan Yin as the protector of the
journey to the west. Sun Wukong developed into a powerful helper in the face of adversity. His funny
behavior, his chirping, the sympathetic appearance of an ape-man who is invincible in every match, all of
these can no longer be driven away from the human heart.

Hanoman

Hanoman or Hanumat also known as Anoman, is one of the gods in Hinduism, as well as the protagonist
of the most famous epic Ramayana. He is a white monkey and is the son of Batara Bayu and Anjani, the
nephews of Subali and Sugriwa. According to the Serat Pedhalangan book, the Hanoman character is
actually originally from the epic Ramayana, but in its development this character also sometimes
appears in the Mahabharata series, thus becoming an inter-contemporary figure. In India, hanoman is
worshiped as a patron deity and several temples are dedicated to worshiping him.

Hanoman was born during the Tretayuga era as the son of Anjani, a woman. In the past Anjani was
actually an angel, named Punjikastala. However, due to a curse, he was born into the world as a female
lady. The curse could end if she gave birth to a son who was the incarnation of Shiva. Anjani married
Kesari, a mighty wanara. Together with Kesari, Anjani performed penance before Shiva so that Shiva
would be willing to become their son. Because Shiva was impressed by the worship performed by
Anjani and Kesari, he granted their wish by descending to the world as Hanoman.

One version tells that when Anjani was meditating and worshiping Shiva, in another place, Raja
Dasarata performed his Putrakama Yadnya to obtain offspring. As a result, he received some food to
share with his three wives, who later gave birth to Rama, Laksmana, Bharata and Satrugna. At the will of
the gods, a bird snatched a piece of the food, and dropped it in the forest where Anjani was meditating.
Bayu, the god of wind, delivers the food so that it falls in Anjani's hands. Anjani ate the food, then
Hanoman was born.

One version says that Hanoman was born accidentally because of the relationship between Bayu and
Anjani. It is said that one day, Dewa Bayu saw Anjani's beauty, then he hugged her. Anjani was angry
because he felt harassed. But Dewa Bayu replied that Anjani would not be tarnished by Bayu's touch.
He embraced Anjani not in his body, but in his heart. Bayu also said that someday Anjani would give
birth to a son who was equal in strength to Bayu and was the smartest among the wanara.

As the son of Anjani, Hanoman was called Anjaneya (pronounced "Aanjanèya"), which literally means
"born of Anjani" or "son of Anjani".

When Hanoman was a child, he thought the sun was an edible fruit, then flew towards him and wanted
to eat it. Dewa Indra saw this and became worried about the safety of the sun. To anticipate this, he
threw his lightning at Hanoman so that the little monkey fell and hit the mountain. Seeing this, Dewa
Bayu became angry and kept silent. As a result of his actions, all creatures on earth became limp. The
gods also begged Bayu to get rid of his anger. Dewa Bayu stopped his anger and Hanoman was given
generous gifts. Dewa Brahma and Dewa Indra gave the boon that Hanoman would be immune from all
weapons, and that death would come only by his own will. Therefore, Hanoman became an immortal
being or Ciranjiwin.

The Compare Foklore Between Sun Go Kong and Hanoman

An opinion emerged that Wu took the character Sun Go Kong, which emerged from his inspiration for
the Ramayana story from India, which also tells the story of the sacred monkey character Hanoman.
Among Chinese writers themselves there are also opinions that support this opinion, but the majority
reject this theory. There are also those who argue that Wu got inspiration from Hanoman, but Sun Go
Kong was later described as having nothing to do with Indian Hanoman. Lu Xun (1881 ~ 1936) was the
well-known Father of Modern Chinese Literature. He argues that Sun Go Kong is a work of Wu which
took inspiration from the story by Lee Gong-zuo who lived during the Tang Dynasty. In his novel entitled
"Gu Yue Du Jing", he tells the story of a powerful demon with the title Huai Wo Shuei Shen, who was
finally conquered by Buddhist powers. After that he changed his name to Wu Zi Qi. Lu Xun argues that
Wu Cheng-en took the character Sun Go Kong over Wu Zi Qi's modification. Then, other writers also
argue that the character Sun Go Kong is originally Chinese because there was a priest who was also
famous during the Tang Dynasty with the title Wu Kong (Go Kong = Hokkien), the real name of Che
Chao-feng.

However, Hu Shi, another writer, argues that Wu took inspiration from Hanoman who is told in the
Ramayana story. Because he speculated that it was impossible for the famous Ramayana story to not
have reached China. So there must be some Hanoman influence on Wu Cheng-en's earlier work. There
is also another writer Ji Xian-lin who argues that Sun Go Kong is a Hanoman who was modified into Sun
Go Kong without having anything to do with Hanoman himself unless they are both magic monkeys. But
Sun Go Kong's magic ape is clearly a fusion of belief, folklore and creation than its own author, Wu
Cheng-en.