It is there where they discover that most of the oldest peaches have been eaten, and in the process of picking leftovers, a maiden disturbs Sun’s slumber when she pulls down and lets go of the branch that he is sleeping on. Upon their arrival, Monkey is nowhere to be found (having shrunken to miniature size and fallen asleep in the trees), so the underlings allow the maidens into the garden to fulfill their duty. However, his theft is soon discovered when the Queen Mother sends seven immortal maidens to procure fruit for her famous Grand Banquet of Immortal Peaches ( Pantao shenghui, 蟠桃勝會). He uses this ruse several times to sate his hunger. But one day, he feigns tiredness just so his attendants will leave him alone long enough to strip out off his official clothing and climb trees to eat his fill of fruit. This new position takes up his time, ending his visits with deities across the cosmos. Sun immediately performs an inspection of the garden, learning from an underling that of the 3,600 total trees, three groups of immortal peaches respectively ripen every 3,000, 6,000, and 9,000 years. In response, the Jade Emperor tasks Monkey with temporarily watching over the immortal peach garden, warning him to take the position seriously. But his idleness catches the eye of an immortal who reports to the throne the possible negative repercussions of Sun Wukong having too much free time. He spends this time freely traveling the universe and making friends with all sorts of primordial, stellar, and cardinal gods. Literature and mythologyĪfter winning his battle with heaven, Monkey is granted the empty title “ Great Sage Equaling Heaven” ( Qitian dasheng, 齊天大聖) and given a position in the celestial realm with no official rank, salary, or duty. This is a screenshot from episode 9 of the Little Fox Journey to the West series on YouTube. 1 – Sun Wukong eating immortal peaches ( larger version). I suggest that it is based on the theft of divine fruit by a Han-era trickster, as well as by a magic white ape from Song-era religious literature.įig. In this article, I would like to explore the origins of this episode. This naturally bestows our hero with supreme longevity (but not complete immortality). Each of these is said to “make a man’s age equal to that of Heaven and Earth, the sun and the moon” ( 人吃了與天地齊壽,日月同庚。) (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. The third layer is achieved in chapter five when he eats untold numbers of 9,000-year-old immortal peaches ( p antao, 蟠桃) while serving as the temporary custodian of the Queen Mother of the West‘s immortal peach garden (fig. I’ve previously mentioned that the Monkey King has six layers of immortality in Journey to the West ( Xiyouji, 西遊記, 1592 “JTTW” hereafter).
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