Reading Notes: The Monkey King Part B

The antics of Wukong reached the ears of the heaven, especially the Jade Emperor - the Lord of Heaven. The Dragon-King of the Eastern Sea and the ten Princes of the Dead brought complains to the Jade Emperor. The Evening Star of the Western Skies brought up an idea to give Wukong a position in the Heaven to teach him responsibility. If he steps out of line, then the Heaven will punish him. The Lord of Heaven appointed him as the stablemaster to tend the horses. He tended for ten days in Heaven, which is ten years on Earth. He gets angry and return home. Li Jing is a celestial who carries a magical pagoda and has a son named Nezha. They were ordered to take the Ape King prisoner. They lost and The Evening Star asked the Lord of Heaven to appoint the Ape King the title of Great Saint Who Is Heaven's Equal, an empty title he already given himself. Later, he stole the magical peaches of the Queen-Mother of the West, Xi Wangmu. He also drank the barrels of wine prepared for the feast. Goddess of compassion, Guan Yin, thinks that Erland Shen, the greatest of celestial warriors, can subdue Wukong. In the end, he was captured but unable to be kill because he had eaten the peaches, drunk the nectar, and swallow the pills of life. The Lord of the Heaven asked the Buddha for help. Buddha made a wager that if Wukong can escape his hand, then he will be free to go. The Buddha created a mountain of water, fire, wood, earth and metal and trapped Wukong under with a magic incantation. He became trapped under for hundreds of years until he was released to help the Monk of the Yangtze-kiang to fetch the holy writings from the West (Journey to the West). Guan Yin, the person who released him, gave the monk a golden circlet with an incantation that restricts it on Wukong's head when he is disobedient. 

First disciple is Wukong. Second disciple is Zhu Bajie who was the Marshal of the Heavenly Capony, a commander of Heaven's naval forces and was banished to the mortal realm for flirting with the moon goddess Chang'e. He took a form of a pig and has appetites for food and sex. Third disciple is the river ogre Sha Wujing, who was the celestial Curtain Lifting General, and was banished for dropping and shattering a crystal goblet of the Queen Mother of the West. The fourth disciple is Yulong, the third son of the Dragon King of the West Sea, who was sentenced to death for setting fire to his father's great pearl.

Sun Wu Kong at Wikimedia

Bibliography: "The Monkey King" edited by R. Wilheim and translated by Frederick H. Martens. source.