From Protean Ape to Handsome Saint
The Monkey King
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12026652 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Whalen Lai (0000-0003-2199-3585, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1994 |
| Volume | 53 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 29-29 |
| Publication date | 1994-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Asian Folklore Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0385-2342 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/1178559 |
| OpenAlex | W2524312256 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 6 |
The novel Monkey or Journey to the West tells of a simian's revolt against Heaven, of its defeat by the Buddha, and of its later being recruited as a pilgrim to protect the monk Tripitaka on his quest for scriptures in India. This essay traces Monkey's background to a) a mythic battle between a land deity and a water deity; b) a myth about an aboriginal in a medieval forest who is converted by Buddhist missionaries and becomes a saint who protects his new faith, just as St. Christopher, originally a subhuman Dog-man in the forest, became the patron saint of travelers; c) a folk Zen parody of the Sixth Patriarch Huineng (who was called a barbarian monkey); d) an ancient tradition about the Chinese Titansthe demigods of Xia-striking back at the Zhou god of Heaven that displaced them. The appendix goes into the folklore of the Frog, a chthonic deity kept alive among southern non-Chinese aboriginals
Art · Art history · SAINT · Chinese history and philosophy · Communication · Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies · Psychology · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices
Reframing the narrative of magic wind in Arthur Waley’s translation of Journey to the West
The interplay between digital platforms and user-generated content in reinterpreting and recreating mythological narratives with traditional Chinese cultural elements
Westem Language Publications on Religions in China, 1990-1994
變!Metamorphosis in Journey to the West
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.14 |
| Citation span | 1998 - 2025 (28) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |