Monkey Magic!
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Hello,
I recently read a translation of Wu Cheng-en's "Journey to the West", better known as the TV series "Monkey Magick" in the UK (started watching this too, and just as good as it ever was), and apart from being blown away by the amazing humour and fun silliness in the book (especially for a 16th Century Monk) I find I'm struggling with the symbolism of Monkey.
He calls himself "Great Sage Equal of Heaven" and attempts a heavenly takeover, for which Buddha casts him down to Earth.
At the same time he is the master of the elements, a magician of incredible power, but difficult to control and often just as hindering as helpful.
In this I'm seeing elements of the Magus, but also obvious elements of the original Lucifer.
I've always seen the Magus as different from Lucifer, but it does seem thats what the legend of the Monkey King is hinting at.
Do you think this is correct? Is the Magus Lucifer? or is this another case of the fluidity of these symbols overlapping with each other and causing confustion?
Wu Cheng en certainly seems to know his stuff, but I don't know enough about Chinese/Buddhist mysticism to figure this one out myself.Any ideas?
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Thanks for the reply.
Yeah, the legend of the "fallen" seems to be a bit hazy when you look at other mythos. Come across this kind of thing before.
I just thought it interesting that Wu Cheng en linked what I'd primarily say was a Magus archetype with parts of the story of Lucifer. Would love to know if there are any other such links between the two, as I've come across a few interpretations placing Lucifer all over the place on the tree of life, which doesn't help.
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I was thinking also about perspective.
I don't have a real great grasp of the differences between the Black, White, and Yellow schools, but when you think about these stories, it might be helpful to consider the storyteller's perspective.
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I watched a cartoon of the Monkey King when i was very young, in fact it was one of the most absorbing hypnotizing experiences of that period, I think maybe I subconsciously associated with the character. It is different* from the legend of Phaeton[maybe this is were physics gets the word "photon" same associations Helios =Sun etc] in that Phaeton losses control and gets killed by Zeus, The Monkey did not loose control it was himself that could not be controlled by the gods, except for Buddha, and the Monkey king was not killed but eventually became a student of Buddha if i remember, so i might interpret that the Monkey was thrown down because he was not ready but still i guess there is a similarity. The difference between the black, white and yellow schools seems quite clear enough and i don't actually see anyway of them being misconstrued; as a fundamental general world-view of; Sorrow/guilt{black], Joy[white] and Detachment[yellow] while simultaneously acknowledging the perspective of the other two to some degree, as such it seems there is no-one that does not fall under one of these categories either ignorantly or consciously. I think morale of both of these Myths is either, Achieve balance! and/or "with great power comes great responsibility"; as for the concept of Lucifer, it all depends which concept of Lucifer are you referring to
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The TV program was a big hit with me as a child, and I'd have to recommend the book - not only because it is great fun and entertaining, but also because it contains some wonderful and witty discussions of Buddhism and the Way, and it is delightfully silly too.
There is much in the character of Monkey which would suggest a link to the Magus, though seems to focus more on the as yet uncontrolled genius, the main theme of both book and series is the battle between Monkey and Trippitakka as Trippitakka seeks to perfect his self (along with his Piggish Nature, and, well, its never been clear exactly what Sandy is,
)But I do find the various ideas of Lucifer interesting, and the 3 schools idea goes a good way to enlightening the different ways its viewed.