Campbell, an advocate of Freudian
symbolism and Jungian archetypal theory, believed that myth, folktales,
legends, and all other manner of lore and tales are the poetics of the
imagination, “the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of
the cosmos pour into human cultural manifestation” as he states in his treatise
on the subject, The Hero with a Thousand
Faces (3). Produced naturally by the
psyche, symbols and archetypes reveal themselves in the colors of the culture they
are associated with, customs, dance, music, visual arts, and stories included. Greek mythology remains a unique sub-genre of
stories, for example, but if one strikes at their core they will find elements,
symbolism, and archetypal patterns common to world mythology. At this degree of commonality, myth and
mythology are thus creative manifestations of humankind’s universal need to
explain psychological, social, cosmological, and spiritual realities, and as
such “[h]umanity lives in one shape-shifting yet marvelously constant story.”
The constancy of this “one story” cannot be underestimated, according to
Campbell, who writes it is “a magnification of the formula represented in the
rites of passage: separation-initiation-return: which might be named the
nuclear unit of the monomyth.” (Hero
30). While he extends his argument to
elaborate upon seventeen individual steps, the first phase, “separation or
departure,” is the severance of the hero from their relative group, or as he
states it in more psychological terms: “the retreat from the world scene of
secondary effects to those causal zones of the psyche where the difficulties
really reside.” (30). Taken from their zone of comfort, the individual faces
the unknown within themselves. The
second phase, “the trials and victories of initiation,” is the struggles of the
hero in their new found predicament and subsequent triumph over the problems
encountered: the “clarification” and “eradication”
of difficulties. Facing the unfamiliar,
the individual is thus tested and succeeds in overcoming the difficulties. The third phase, “the return and
reintegration with society,” is the transfigured return of the hero to his
respective group and his acceptance by them.
Thus in Jungian terms, the result can be expressed as “individuation,”
or the individual’s “break through to the undistorted, direct experience and
assimilation of […] archetypal images”: the universal human (Hero 17). Campbell sums up the monomyth with the
following:
“The
hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural
wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won:
the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow
boons on his fellow man” (Hero 30).
The path to such power unfolding in phases, the hero’s experience thus
forms a cycle, one that Campbell states endlessly repeats itself cosmogonically. Learning may be passed from generation to
generation, but as no two individuals’ predispositions are identical and no two
learning environments the same, each hero, or individual, must learn for
themselves, propelling the cycle onwards, generation after generation. Therefore, when viewing the basic plotline of
Journey to the West, a strong
parallel can be drawn between the cosmogonic cycle and the quest cycle the
heroes undertake: a group of monks leave their native land, separating themselves
from the culture and environment they are so familiar with, encounter a and
overcome a host of trials and tribulations, and return to their society with
the wisdom of the gods, transformed into deities themselves and thus bearing
the holy scriptures for dispersal amongst the common folk. However, as the Monkey King, or Sun Wukong,
is the hero of the story, his character must be looked at in greater detail to
determine to what extent he develops throughout the novel, and in particular the
literary representation of his psychological development towards achieving
Jungian individuation.
As Sun Wukong’s initial development
sees him mastering every earthly and heavenly skill, including a trip to the
underworld to have his name struck from the list of the dead, every skill save
wielding the power held by the highest of Buddhist deities, and that he does so
entirely independent from any particular society or environment is troublesome
when seeking to locate a situation from which he might be separated and thus
fulfill Campbell’s first criteria of the monomyth. It is therefore ironic that by having his
freedom removed—to no longer be able to wreck havoc on the heavens and the gods,
to control or torment whom he pleases on the earth—is what isolates the Monkey
King. Not banishment from a specific
culture or region in human terms, it is his inability to traverse the cosmos in
freedom which separates the Monkey King from his previous lifestyle; he is trapped
under Buddha’s hand. Even after Tang
Sanzang frees him to assist the quest, the band placed around his skull which
Tang Sanzang is able to painfully tighten is a constant threat and reminder he
is not as free as he once was. The band
is thus a symbol of his separation from his former life of freedom and of his subjection
to the Buddhist quest.
Indubitably wise and clever in the
seemingly endless tricks, transformations, and powers he’s able to use in
protection of the group, Sun Wukong exhausts himself time after time saving the
group from all manner of monsters and demons which block their journey, in
addition to working with a host of others.
With the help of the Star Lords of the Nine Bright Shiners, the East
Dipper, Prince Nezha, and various other real and imaginary gods, he defeats the
likes of the Leopard King, the Bull Demon Ogre of Fire Mountain, as well as his
own doppelganger. These characters,
including the pilgrims, remain static throughout the novel, any transformation
in character sudden and without prolonged anguish of learning, a simple usage
of Buddhist rationale able or unable to turn their heart. While he too remains defiantly cheeky facing
the tribulations, a subtle change can be seen in the Monkey King’s character
developing through the story, however. On
three occasions the band of pilgrims is surprised on the road by a group of
common bandits: near the beginning of the story, toward the middle, and lastly
approaching the conclusion. Poor and
pitiable, the bandits nonetheless seek to use violence to extract as much as
they can from the penniless journeyers, even if it’s only their clothes. Frail and human, unlike the majority of other
gods and monsters the group encounters, the bandits are weak, and the Monkey
King sets about slaying the first group in the blink of an eye. Admonished by Sanzang for the taking of human
life afterwards, Sun Wukong remains firm in his belief that he has protected
the group from harm. “But if I hadn’t
killed them, they’d have killed you, Master.” he states (336). When meeting the second group in the middle
of the journey, he slays only one bandit, the rest allowed to run away into the
forest. Sanzang again admonishes Sun
Wukong for the unnecessary taking of a life, to which he replies that one is
better than all, and once again reiterates the importance of protecting their
quest. Upon meeting the third group of
bandits towards the end of the novel, Sun Wukong, unbeknownst to himself as a
result of the changes he’s undergone in the quest to that point, sets about
converting the bandits to Buddhism, even organizing a place for them to practice
in a local monastery. Paralleling this softening
of aggression and murder is the number of times Sanzang must use the Band
Tightening Spell to make Monkey behave, the amount reduced with each of the hundred
and eight trials passed. At the end of the novel when the scriptures have been achieved,
he asks Sanzang if the band is still necessary, to which he receives the reply “It
was because you were so uncontrollable in those days that this magic was needed
to keep you in order. […] Now that you are a Buddha of course it can go.”
(2314).
The bandit acid test and the recurrent usage of the Band Tightening
Spell are but a superficial representation of the initiation process Sun Wukong
undergoes, however. More explicit is the
overall change in temperament with each new trial and tribulation; his dealings
with the gods and deities moves toward facilitation and away from aggression as
the story progresses. With each demon
equal to his own cleverness he encounters, Sun’s appeals to the Buddhist gods
come with less over-confident maneuvering and with greater supplication. While taking nearly three chapters to kill
the Great Horned Bull in the early stages of their journey, the equally
formidable Three Monster Kings: King Cold-avoider, King Heat-avoider, and King
Dust-avoider go down with ease in the face of the combined forces of Sun Wukong
and a host of heavenly deities who come to his aid when readily and willingly asked,
that is, rather than begrudgingly. It is
through this gradual acceptance of and supplication to Buddhist powers that the
Monkey King’s process of individuation and initiation can clearly be seen. The band that is removed from his head is
thus only a symbol of his finding himself and being free to roam the Earth
without others being threatened. Regarding
the Monkey King’s internal trials and tribulations, a quote from Campbell sums
up the process undertaken: “fabulous forces are […] there encountered and a
decisive victory is won” (Hero 30).
The third phase, “return,” is perhaps the most unequivocally represented
of Campbells’ three phases by Sun Wukong.
Thought ugly and demonic for his quasi-human appearance, throughout the quest
the Monkey King strikes fear into the hearts of people just by looking at
them. However, upon his return to the
emperor’s court, when the common people learn he has returned with the holy
scriptures, they open their doors and spread tables with food to congratulate
him on his great achievement, his appearance no longer worrisome in the light
of his Buddhahood, the offerings a “boon” as it were. Also, upon collection of the holy sutras and
returning to China, all five members of the quest are made deities by Buddha
himself. Sun Wukong, despite being the
one who once wrecked havoc on heaven, mended his ways and is now trustworthy
enough to be “rewarded the high office of Victorious Fighting Buddha”
(2312). Perhaps no more explicit a
metaphor for the transcendence of psyche into the realm of personal discovery
can be found than the achievement of nirvana through Buddhahood as Sun Wukong
experienced. Campbell writes “the
composite hero of the monomyth is a personage of exceptional gifts” and that
“[f]requently he is honored by his society.” Nothing truer could be said of the Monkey King
when examining the conclusion of Journey
to the West.
If examined in greater detail, perhaps the total seventeen steps of
Campbell’s overall monomythic hero experience would adhere just as closely as
the three general phases have to Sun Wukong and his development. A noted admirer of Eastern philosophy, which
intrinsically includes myth and legend, it is perhaps no surprise that Journey to the West parallels his
ideology so clearly. Needing no
introduction to the Chinese as heroic, it remains for the west to discover the
tale of the Monkey King and the fantastic adventure he undertakes in obtaining
individuation, or as Buddhists might express the idea: nirvana. Sun Wukong and his heroic undertaking to help
fetch the holy Buddhist scriptures are thus firmly cemented in Chinese culture
as monomyth.
Works Cited:
Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. 2nd
Ed. Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 1968. Print.
Wu, Chengen. Journey to the West. Trans. By W.J.F.
Jenner. Beijing: Foreign Languages
Press, 2005. Print.
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