Prof. Michael O'Rourke

DDA 514, Storyboarding & Storytelling

The Monkey King and Buddha (Chinese)

Synopsis:

Monkey King was magical and constantly insulting the gods. To teach him a lesson, Buddha challenges him to a task -- to leave Buddha's hand. Monkey King accepts the challenge and thinks he has accomplished the task, but learns that Buddha is much more powerful than he.

Back Story:

The Monkey King was born of rock and was extremely strong. He was also extremely smart, very mischievous, and very proud. He had tricked, insulted, and angered many gods and made himself many enemies. He had even made himself immortal by stealing and eating the magic peaches of the Jade Emperor. He could fly on clouds at the speed of light, change shape, and fight off entire armies. He was so proud that he demanded that the gods call him “Great Sage, Equal of Heaven”. The gods were furious, but could not defeat the Monkey King.

The Story:

Buddha decides to teach Monkey King a lesson. Buddha made a wager with Monkey, betting him that he could not jump out of Buddha's hand. If Monkey King won the bet, he would get the Jade Emperor's job.  If he lost, he would be banished to Earth for centuries to learn some humility.

Monkey agreed to the bet. He immediately cloud-flew at a terrific speed to the end of the universe, where he saw five pink pillars.  These he took to be the end of the world. On the middle pillar he wrote "The Great Sage Equal of Heaven reached this place", to prove beyond any doubt he had reached this spot. To drive home the point, he also urinated at the base of the first pillar.

Then he returned to the Buddha, and told him of his accomplishment. To Monkey’s shock, the Buddha informed him he had never left Buddha's hand after all.   To prove it, Buddha showed Monkey the writing on his middle finger.  Then he made Monkey smell the bottom of his smallest finger and smell  his own urine.

Monkey tried to renege on the bet, but before he could escape, Buddha pushed him out of the Gate of Heaven.  Buddha then changed his five fingers into the five elements –metal, wood, water, fire and earth. These became a five-peaked mountain, and under it Monkey was trapped, leaving only his head and hands exposed.  Monkey King was obliged to remain trapped under the mountain for 500 years to learn humility.