Sun Wukong
Sun Wukong is the stone-born monkey of Wu Cheng'en's sixteenth-century novel Xiyou ji (Journey to the West), built on earlier Tang and Song storytelling and on older monkey and water-demon figures.
Wukong is a literary character with a living temple cult, not an ancient god with a classical mythology; the cult is real and should not be dismissed as fandom. The frequent claim that he derives from Hanuman is a modern speculation with no textual support in either tradition, and Hanuman's own tradition does not make it. Mercury and Wednesday are a Western overlay.
Correspondences
- Planetary Correspondence
- Mercury
- Zodiac Affinity
- GeminiAriesSagittarius
Offerings
- Offerings
- IncenseFruitPeachesCandyRice wine
Sacred timing
- Sacred Timing
Symbols and forms
- Alternate Names
- Monkey KingQitian DashengGreat Sage Equal to HeavenMeihouwangThe Monkey of the Mind
- Gender Expression
- Masculine
- Titles
- Great Sage Equal to HeavenHandsome Monkey KingVictorious Fighting BuddhaGreat Sage of Qitian
- Symbols
- Ruyi jingu bangGolden headbandCloud somersaultPeachStone eggFive elements mountain
Practice
- Invocation Approach
- ToneWry direct without ceremonyAddressGreat SageSun WukongQitian DashengMonkey KingRelationshipA trickster who respects only someone who keeps their wordWarningHe will test the terms of any bargainResonanceThe stubborn the restless those who need out of a cage
- Modern Practice
Temples to the Great Sage are kept with fruit, tea and firecrackers, and he is asked for the things a trickster can give: a way out, a broken seal, the nerve to refuse. Practitioners also use him as a figure for the untrained mind, the monkey of the mind that the pilgrimage is meant to tame.
Nature and meaning
- Domain
- TrickeryFreedomRebellionTransformationMischiefMartial prowessThe untrained mindPerseverance
- Mythology Summary
Sun Wukong is the stone-born monkey of Wu Cheng'en's sixteenth-century novel Xiyou ji (Journey to the West), built on earlier Tang and Song storytelling and on older monkey and water-demon figures. He learns immortality, takes the Ruyi Jingu Bang from the Dragon King, erases his name from the registers of death, is pinned under the Five Elements Mountain by the Buddha after wrecking heaven, and becomes the Victorious Fighting Buddha at the end of the pilgrimage. The novel is fiction, but the cult of Qitian Dasheng, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, is a real and living one in Fujian, Taiwan and Chinese communities across Southeast Asia.
Details
- Correspondences
- ColorsGoldRedYellowBlackScentsSandalwoodDragons bloodCinnamonMetalsGoldIronAnimalsMonkeyDragonTiger
One of 3,120 entries in the Grimoire — the whole library, every cross-reference, is free to take. Take the whole thing Is it wrong somewhere?
Referenced by 4
Every entry that names Sun Wukong, grouped by the system it comes from.
☥ Deities 4
- Nezha Related Deities
- Longwang Related Deities
- Houyi Related Deities
- Erlang Shen Related Deities
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