This story is based on “The Monkey King,” which tells the adventures of Sun Wu Kung. I wanted to retell the story from the perspective of Sun Wu Kung’s spirit teacher, The Discerner. Due to the number of time gaps, I decided a diary format would work best.
Many elements are the same between the original and my retelling. The Discerner gives a lecture to his class when Sun Wu Kung jumps up in joy at understanding the lesson. The Discerner offers additional lessons for Sun Wu Kung, and he agrees very eagerly. However, Sun Wu Kung rejects any teaching once he realizes that they will not give immortality to him. The Discerner whacks Sun Wu Kung on the head three times and storms off to his chambers.
From this point, the original story has The Discerner give Sun Wu Kung a coded message to visit him in three nights to learn the secret of immortality. Sun Wu Kung follows the message, and The Discerner is impressed that Sun Wu Kung understood the message, and he decides to teach him the way to immortality. Sun Wu Kung must face more dangers, so The Discerner teaches him skills like transformation and flight. Later, Sun Wu Kung shows off to classmates bu turning into a pine tree and The Discerner sends him away for it. Sun Wu Kung is ordered not to mention he was a student of The Discerner.
In my retelling, I changed it, so there was no coded message. Instead, The Discerner ends up very relieved that he made Sun Wu Kung promise not to mention that he was a student, so the forces of the Heavens wouldn’t point at him.
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Dear Diary,
Today a new student appeared during my meditation. I heard crackling sounds so disturbing that I could no longer continue. I asked one of my students to see what the racket was outside. The noise-maker turned out to be an ape, eating pine cones by the entrance. When he came in, he didn’t introduce himself because he didn’t have a name. Well, being the generous being that I am, I decided to name him Sun Wu Kung.
Dear Diary,
Seven years have passed since Sun Wu Kung’s arrival, and honestly, I had almost forgotten him. I received a sharp reminder when I witnessed Sun Wu Kung’s spectacle this morning. I was presenting a lecture when all of a sudden Sun Wu Kung began to jump up and dance! I scolded him profusely until Sun Wu Kung cut me off to tell me that he fully understood the lecture. As the gracious being that I am, I offered to teach Sun Wu Kung more about The Great Truth so that he could express his excitement out of class. At first, Sun Wu Kung was eager to agree to any lessons, until he found out that they would give immortality to him. From there, Sun Wu Kung refused to learn anything.
I am ashamed to admit that I hit Sun Wu Kung thrice before I stormed off to my chambers. The audacity of that ape! I’m immortal, but I didn’t remove The Great Truth from my life. I even teach it to others because of its value, yet Sun Wu Kung rejects any worth in my teachings if they do not lead to eternal life. The nerve of it! Anyone would jump at the chance to learn the slightest knowledge from me, yet when I offered Sun Wu Kung extra lessons, he insulted me to blatantly to my face. As a teacher, I know I should be calm with unruly students, but Sun Wu Kung is testing the ends of my patience. I need to meditate until I can be reasonable around that unruly ape again.
Dear Diary,
It’s been three days since Sun Wu Kung rejected my teachings and just as I was about to head to bed, Sun Wu Kung entered my chambers and announced he is waiting to receive the secret to immortality. I told him I would do no such thing, but Sun Wu Kung was adamant that I had, in the most convoluted logic I have ever seen. Sun Wu Kung said that when I whacked him three times in the head then stormed off, I told Sun Wu Kung in a secret message that after three nights I would reveal the secret of immortality to him in my chambers.
I realized that Sun Wu Kung is beyond reason and would not leave me alone until I taught him the way to immortality. Like I would do that! Instead, I taught Sun Wu Kung other skills, such as transformation magic and how to travel via clouds. I may or may not have pretended that these were the secrets to immortality. When he realizes the truth of the situation, he will hopefully see the value in skills that have no link to immortality.
Dear Diary,
I thought I had finally learned a way to tame Sun Wu Kung’s wild spirit, but I see that it has only spread to my other students! I heard loud laughter and found the source to be a group of students laughing at a pine tree, who was Sun Wu Kung transformed. I taught Sun Wu Kung to teach him a valuable lesson in life, yet this is the thanks I get. One thing is sure. Sun Wu Kung can no longer stay. However, if word got out that I had such a wild student, my reputation would plummet. I need to think.
Dear Diary,
After a night of deep contemplation, I sent Sun Wu Kung away! I told Sun Wu Kung that if others learned that he was my pupil, that he would be in grave danger. From that, Sun Wu Kung swore to secrecy and went back to wherever he came from. In the process, Sun Wu Kung thanked me! I should be thanking him! Thank you, Sun Wu Kung, for leaving my life, and may you never come again.
Dear Diary,
I heard rumors about some upstart calling himself “The Great Saint,” but I never paid much attention to them. But then, I learned The Great Saint is an ape who could be none other than Sun Wu Kung!
There is a mountain of misdeeds, such as stealing the elixir of life, erasing the mortality of his ape family, stealing weapons, etc. The Lord of the Heavens attempted to arrest him, but Sun Wu Kung had evaded arrest multiple times. Finally, they trapped him with the help of Buddha. But for all the horrendous deeds, I have not heard anything about who his teacher was. Which means I’m safe! I’m so glad I told Sun Wu Kung not to mention his connection to me. To think, I was only worried about being a laughing stock in front of the other teachers, but the Lord of the Heavens could have beheaded me for teaching such a troublemaker.
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Bibliography:
"The Monkey King" from The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921). Source.
Image Information: The Monkey King by Yoshitoshi. Source.
