Monkey King Festival (13 September 2011)

The Monkey God Festival is celebrated in Malaysia, on the sixteenth day of the eight lunar month, between September and October. It is dedicated to the Monkey God who was thrown out of the Taoist Heaven for his mischievous deeds.

History of Monkey God Festival

The Monkey God, or Sun Wukong, is the main character from a Chinese novel entitled Journey to the West, where the Monkey King is the companion of Bodhisattva Guanyin, a Buddhist monk, in his travels to recover sutras from India. Sun Wukong was made king of the monkeys when he found a cave behind a water fall, which was then made their home for all the monkey tribe. He calls himself the handsome monkey king.

As a monkey he decided to look for immortality as his next achievement after conquering all the power there was to a monkey. He became a disciple of a Buddhist Patriarch, Bodhi, and was able to learn how to speak and act as a human as he traveled with his master and learned from him all that he could. He learned the powers of shape shifting, known for his 72 transformations, and he can also cloud travel, jumping from cloud to cloud; among other abilities.

He soon become very proud of himself and Bo0dhi did not like this, so the master threw him out of his temple and advised him not to tell anyone where he had learned his powers. Sun Wukong in time became one of the most powerful daemon in the world. He was always getting himself in trouble. The Monkey King managed to infuriate the Dragon Kings of the sea as he fought them and managed to win. And also the Kings of Hell, since he did not want to die, so he erased his name and of his monkey friends from the book of Life and Death. And so he was reported to Jade, Emperor in Heaven.

The Emperor brought him to Heaven expecting him to behave, and made him keeper of the horses, which was the lowest job in heaven that anyone could have. Sun Wukong was expecting to become himself a god. So he rebelled against the gods and before coming back to earth to unite forces with the daemons, he stole the wine of Emperor Jade, among other things. He fought the Heaven Armies and won, and at great cost he was finally imprisoned, but managed to escape once again and even stronger.

Buddha himself had to be called to imprison the Monkey King. Buddha told the Monkey King that he could not escape his palm, Wukong said that he could. He jumped so high and so far that he reached the end of the earth where he found five pillars. He wrote in each five pillars that he was as great as the heavens and returned back to Buddha. He found that the fingers of Buddha had is writings on them. So he was caught trying to escape and remained under a mountain for 5 centuries.

So the time came when Bodhisattva Guanyin had a great adventure ahead of him to travel to India and recover the Buddhist sutras. As he was preparing to travel and gathering companions to help him in his journey, he encountered the monkey king who offered his assistance in exchange for his freedom. Sun Wukong was so helpful in his trip guarding Bodhisattva Guanyin, that they managed to return safely and successfully to China and the Monkey King was awarded Buddhahood. This is told in the epic Journey to the West.

Monkey God Festival Traditions, Customs and Activities

The main celebrations of the Monkey King Festival happen in Kowloon’s Sal Mau Ping area, in a temple dedicated to the Monkey King. During the Festival thousands of people gather around the temple to make offerings to the Monkey King.

The most amazing are monks that on this day say to have been possessed by the Monkey King and they manage to walk on hot coals and climb stairs made of knives, without hurting themselves. They portray the challenges that the Monkey King had to go through as he escaped the gods and in his journey to India to retrieve the Buddhist Sutras.

These practices are no longer accepted and the most common today is to see people burning incense and pieces of paper with prayers to the tricky and yet brave and smart Monkey King.

Link more about Monkey King Festival

• http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/m/fuzhou/2010-04/06/content_9688276.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Wukong
• http://www.hkfastfacts.com/Chinese%20Festivals/monkey-king-festival.htm
• http://www.festivalpig.com/Monkey-Festival-Thailand.html
• http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_chinaway/2004-01/21/content_45719.htm

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