Monkey King: A Chinese Monkey Spirit Myth

Monkey King: A Chinese Monkey Spirit Myth — page 3
INTRODUCTION The Monkey King is a mischievous character with special magical powers His many adventures have delighted readers for thousands of years The legend of the Monkey King was told in author Wu Cheng en's c 1500 1582 novel Xiyou Ji or Journey to the West While the novel was written in the sixteenth century the story is believed to be much older It is thought to date to the mid Tang dynasty 68 907 CE The novel is based on the journey of an actual Chinese monk named Tripitaka or Xuan Zang He traveled from China to India and back in search of Buddhist texts Buddhism is a religion that started in India more than 2 500 years ago This adaptation retells only the first few chapters from the novel It uses material from Arthur Waley's translation of Journey to the West called Monkey The Chinese Fairy Book edited by Dr R Wilhem and Anthony C Wu's translation of Journey to the West