The Chinese text, Hsi yu chi, is a literary work about the pilgrimage of a priest to the Western Paradise to retrieve the Buddhist scriptures for the Emperor of China. The priest who must accomplish the task is named Hsuan (or Yuan) Chuang. He is joined by Sha Ho-shang, Chu Pa-chieh and Sun Hou-tzu, the Monkey Fairy. The Hsi yu chi is the only literary source for trickster tales about Monkey.

Monkey was very smart beginning at an early age. He quickly became king of the monkeys because of his cunning. When he learned of death, he set out on a quest to discover how to become immortal. During his travels, he met the Immortal P’u-t’i Tsu-shih, who gave Monkey the name Sun Wu-k’ung, ‘Discoverer of Secrets’ (Werner 327). He also taught Monkey how to transform himself into seventy-two different forms. Monkey obtained a magical iron rod, which could change its shape to suit Monkey’s needs. With this weapon, Monkey was able to take over the kingdoms of the Four Kings of the Sea.

During one party, Monkey became drunk and fell asleep, at which point, Yen Wang, the King of the Hells, decided to punish Monkey for his destructive deeds. Thus Monkey fulfills another trickster motif by being punished for his actions. Yen Wang took Monkey’s soul to the underworld in chains, yet unlike other tricksters, Monkey was able to turn his capture into success. Upon waking, Monkey was able to break his chains and enter the kingdom of the dead. Once there, he found the Register of the Living and the Dead and tore out his name and those of his entire monkey subjects, thus causing him and his people not to be subject to the laws of death any longer.

Monkey was able to reinforce his defiance toward death by, achieving double immortality. Monkey was able to procure the position of guardian of the peaches of immortality. Given the opportunity, Monkey eats the peaches and thus becomes immortal. All of the gods decide Monkey must be punished, but due to his immortality, he cannot be killed. Buddha intervenes and through a cunning ploy of his own, he is able to trap Monkey beneath a mountain. Monkey is only granted freedom when he gives his “solemn promise that he would serve as guide, philosopher, and friend to Hsuan Chuang” on his journey to the Western Paradise (Werner 333).

Monkey becomes the guide and protector of Hsuan and sees the pilgrim safely from one edge of the world to the other. To keep Monkey from becoming rebellious again, Hsuan forced him to wear a helmet to keep his mind focused on the path of righteousness. Monkey is seen as a liminal figure because of his lack of association with one particular area. The pilgrims to the Western Paradise must face eighty-one perils before their fourteen-year journey is over. Monkey is the only pilgrim to pass all eighty-one perils, usually saving his comrades in the process. In one tale, Monkey’s friends are captured by demons. Monkey transforms his appearance and learns that the demons plan on capturing him in a gourd that can hold a thousand people. Monkey replies, “That is nothing, I have a gourd which can contain all the heavens” (Werner 347). Monkey suggests a trade, but the demons wish to see the gourd work first. Monkey convinces the gods to extinguish the sun, moon and stars for one hour the next day. When total darkness falls on the land, the demons believe that Monkey’s magic gourd is working and freely trade with him. With the real magic gourd, Monkey is able to defeat the demons later and rescue his companions.

In another typical Monkey story, the pilgrims come to a town that is filled with murderers. The people of the town have vowed to kill ten thousand priests and they are four short of meeting their goal, which the pilgrims would fulfill. Monkey transforms his appearance and enters the town to steal turbans and clothing from the townspeople to hide the pilgrims’ bald heads, which would show them to be Buddhist priests. The pilgrims must stay the night in the town and Hsuan becomes worried that their turbans may fall off in the middle of the night, and thus revel them. Monkey arranges for the landlady to lock them up in a cupboard to keep them safe. During the night, thieves steal the cupboard thinking it full of valuable silver. The thieves are discovered and drop the cupboard in the middle of town. Hsuan is sure they will be caught in the morning when the townsfolk open the cupboard. Monkey changed himself into an ant and crawled out of the cupboard. He then took some of his hairs and transformed them into “a thousand monkeys like himself” (Werner 366). He gave each monkey a razor and a sleeping potion. Thus armed, the monkey army shaved every townsman’s hair like Buddhist priests.

Monkey is a unique example of a classical trickster figure. He exhibits many characteristics of tricksters, such as being quick of mind, transformation of appearance and liminality. However, unlike other tricksters, Monkey is very cooperative and does much to save his master, Hsuan. The tale of Monkey is told from a Buddhist perspective. Monkey had been rebellious and irreverent in his early days, but through the use of the helmet to prevent waywardness, Monkey was able to attain enlightenment and become a Buddha. In the last book of the Hsi yu chi, once Monkey becomes a Buddha, he asks Hsuan to remove the helmet. Hsuan replies that if Monkey is truly enlightened, then the helmet should already be gone. Monkey touches his head to check and the helmet is no longer there, a testament to his enlightenment. The story of Monkey was to encourage others to believe despite past failures, anyone may achieve the status of Buddha through hard work and dedication.