Monkey: Folk Novel of China

Monkey (or the Monkey King or The Journey to the West) is one of the great epic novels in Chinese culture. Set in the 6th century, but not written in the current form until the 16th century (it was part of an oral tradition before that), the story is on the surface about the pilgrimmage of a Buddhist Priest, Hsuan Tsang, and his 3 disciples/side-kicks: Monkey, Pigsy and Sandy, as they journey to India to bring back sacred scrolls from Buddha. Arthur Waley has done a truly impressive job of translating, editing, and bringing to life a selection of the stories (30 from 100 original chapters) from the original Chinese book. He retains the complete first section about Monkey: How he was born from a stone, the trouble and mischief he caused on earth and in heaven, and how he reached the title of Sage, Equal of Heaven until getting imprisoned in a stone under a mountain. Waley then presents a selection of the adventures that the 4 cohorts encounter in their journey to find the scrolls. Each of the adventures follow the same theme of encounter a difficulty, i.e., some people in trouble, help the people to overcome the difficulty, usually through magical or supernatural powers, and then move on. By translating an abridgement, it prevents this repetitive style from dragging on, and it stays fresh. In addition, to the basic story line, one learns much about ancient Chinese culture, Buddhism, and some about Taoism. Moreover, the 4 pilgrims rather than being model characters are actually quite flawed, which makes the stories fascinating, because it always requires a group effort to surpass each hurdle. This is a wonderful book. Translating from contemporary Chinese to English is difficult enough, but from 16th century Chinese, Waley has done an amazing job.

This is a classic fairy tail. It is China's equivalent of the Brother's Grimm. If you enjoy fairy tales, you should buy this as it is well written and not tedious as other versions are. Aurthur Waley did an excellent job of making the story a joy to read. You can even read this book to your children the same way you would read any fairy tale book to children. It is nicely organized with each chapter as a separate episode or story that allows for a pause between chapters without losing the overall arc of the story.It is entertaining, and has hidden gems of both wisdom and mystical teachings for those who have the eyes to see. In other words, you can learn advanced spiritual alchemy from this book if you are paying attention. Secret lore hidden in a fairy tale!Ironically...it also shows Buddhism's nastier side. Few people know that even the Buddha himself had no problem using force to "convince" others of the superiority of his argument. Or that there is no such thing as mercy and forgiveness in Buddhism. The wheel of Karma...divine punishment... is merciless and inescapable. And refusing to bow down and know your proper place in the hierarchy... is an unpardonable sin.A great read!

Some people know the character Son Goku, from the Japanese cartoon series Dragon Ball Z. Others are familiar with Pokemon's Infernape. And still more know a similar character from a TV miniseries shown in the US in 2001 called The Lost Empire. Rumor has it that Jet Li will collaborate with Jackie Chan to portray a Sun Wukong-like character in the forthcoming movie The Forbidden Kingdom. What fans of these characters may not know, is that they are all based on China's infamous Sun Wukong--or The Monkey King.The tale of the Sun Wukong is one of the four major Chinese literary classics. His 81-chapter story, called Journey to the West (Xi You Ji), was written by Wu Chen-En in the 1500s. Monkey's legend is based on the true story of a well-known monk, Xuan Zang (602-664), who traveled to Inida to bring the Sutra--the Buddhist holy book--to China to enlighten the people and improve their lives. In Journey to the West, however, reality gives way to a much more entertaining and fantastic version of the story.Journey to the West is a hero's quest, elaborated with Monkey's supernatural powers, interlaced with Taoist and Buddhist practices and beliefs as well as common superstitions, embellished with fairy tales, monster stories, legends, and fables. Some of the chapters read like superhero comics, others like instructional Bible stories. Some parts of the story, as when Monkey, Pigsy, and Sandy are hiding in a Temple and outwit the priests, are downright hilarious. The Sun Wukong legend can be read as a hero-journey-quest, a political and social satire of rebellion against a corrupt government, or as pure fancy. No wonder Journey to the West has endured for so long.It's hard to believe that as popular as Journey to the West has remained over the centuries, its author would never have admitted to writing it. Wu Chen-En was a scholar and a statesman. During the 1500s (Ming Dynasty), it was considered unfit for educated and high ranking men to read any kind of comic or popular literature. Wu was influenced in writing this tale by the super-hero stories he read secretly while in school.The entertaining escapades of Sun Wukong have remained popular through the ages, inspiring operas, cartoons, and now movies. The tale has even spawned a Sun Wukong festival, which features recreations of many of his adventures, and a statue of Monkey stands at a Buddhist temple in Sau Mau Ping in Hong Kong. Chairman Mao was also a fan, who mentioned Monkey as a role model in many of his speeches. He said people should emulate Monkey's fearlessness in thinking, doing work, striving for his objectives, and extricating China from poverty. Sun Wukong is well-known and well-liked in modern times among children in Vietnam, Thailand, Japan, and Korea. I think Wu Chen-En would secretly be very pleased!

The Chinese original apparently I 2000 pages long, this one is much shorter.This book is a good read ,Monkey, the main character, is lovable and nasty at the same time but more of the first...I had the impression that the translation privileged the plot which in my opinion is not the best bit as it's repetitive at times, whereas the interaction between the characters is hilarious...I was considering reading a different, more recent translation... maybe in the future I will

Me ha costado encontrar esta edición, es la buena.

Great Read!

Though the language has been polished for English readers, the humor and the intent of the chapters aren't lost... A great read for inquisitive spiritual readers.

Ich bin endlich durch und habe wegen Monkeys Frechheiten gegen Autoritätspersonen mehrmals kurz auflachen oder schmunzeln müssen.Es liest sich wie eine Satire an Heldenlegenden und ich glaube, das ist auch beabsichtigt.Ein wichtigtuerischer, kleiner Affe der sich gleich selbst als König krönt und das große himmlische Reich an der Nase herumführt. Er bestiehlt, beleidigt und verkloppt jeden, der ihm krumm kommt und wo er ein Ziel wittert, ist er mit Eifer bei der Sache es zu erreichen.Monkey ist ein Anti-Held und seine Geschichte bis heute eine der bekanntesten Legenden aus Asien.Wer DragonBall kennt, wird merken, warum der Anime von diesem Buch inspiriert wurde.Das Buch ist in Englisch, aber tatsächlich sehr einfach zu lesen und zu verstehen auch für nicht-Muttersprachler. Ich empfehle trotzdem ein minimum von B2, sonst schlägt man jedes zweite Wort nach.