by GIANG NGUYEN

   In the world we live in today, there are many different stories about warriors. Most are fake, and some may be real. But who are the real warriors? Who is the ultimate warrior? Who has the ability to be stronger and better than all other warriors? Some might say Batman. Some could say Superman. Some may even say the Green Arrow. I don’t agree with any of that. Clearly, there can only be one ultimate warrior and that warrior is Sun Wukong. My name is Giang Nguyen and today, I will tell you the story of Wukong and why he is the ultimate warrior.
To understand any warrior, we first have to learn where they came from. Unlike many warriors, Wukong didn’t have any parents. He didn’t have a mom or a dad. When I say he didn’t have a mom or a dad, he literally didn’t have a mom or a dad. Wukong came from a rock. Yes, you heard it right, a rock. He was inside of a rock on top of Flower-Fruit Mountain for eons. Flower-Fruit Mountain is like a paradise. Covered in waterfalls and surrounded by nature. Demons and monkeys populate this mountain. Over time, the rock was observing and absorbing energy from heaven, earth, and all the stars. “As eons came and went, the miraculous rock, ever so slowly, grew a stone egg bearing a supernormal spirit.” At last, the rock absorbed so much energy it finally exploded and a monkey came flying out of from the rock. That monkey soon became Sun Wukong.
You might be wondering where this rock came from, but there are many different theories. For example, people tell the story of how he the rock he was inside came to earth. Some believe that it came from a meteor shower, others believe that the rock came from the tear of Bodhisattva. Bodhisattva is a goddess under Buddha. She was able to reach nirvana, but does not do so to be able to help suffering human beings. If she decided to reach nirvana she would not be able to help humans. One day she was watching over the world and realized how many people were suffering. She shed a tear, that fell down on earth which soon became the rock people believe Sun Wukong came from.
At first, Wukong was living among other regular apes on Flower-Fruit Mountain. The Mountain was so big it contained many hidden areas. One day, Wukong jumped through the Water Curtain Cave, a waterfall that hid a magical cave. After this act of bravery, all the other monkeys acknowledged him and soon, crowned Wukong as their monkey king. For the next couple years, they continued to live a happy normal life.
Wukong wasn’t satisfied with just being the monkey king. “Sun Wukong establishes himself as a powerful and influential demon.” Wukong knows he is capable of accomplishing greater things than to just be a king on Flower-Fruit Mountain. Wukong wants to be bigger and better than just a king of a mountain.
Sun Wukong’s powers were uncontrollable and nobody could stop him. Despite his greatness, it still did not satisfy him enough. Wukong found himself a Taoist master. His master taught him the 72 transformations which allows him to be anything he wishes to be. But no matter how much he accomplishes, Wukong knew that he will still die one day.
In Wukong’s favor, he found out that hell had a book that states when people would die. “Sun Wukong then defies Hell’s attempt to collect his soul. Instead of reincarnating, he wipes his name out of the Book of Life and Death along with the names of all monkeys known to him.” After wiping his name from the book of death, he will never die. The king of hell became very upset but couldn’t do anything about it because Wukong was too powerful. The king of hell then reported this incident to The King of Heaven. Everything must be reported to The King of Heaven, because in Chinese religion it is believed that he rules everything including hell.
Among his many strengths, Wukong also have some weaknesses. He is extremely weak underwater compare to his usual self. He often avoids fights underwater because that give his opponents an advantage over him. Wukong is also scared of smoke.
Every warrior needs a signature weapon. Wukong’s signature weapon is called Ruyi Jingu. Ruyi Jingu is a magical staff. This staff isn’t like any other weapon. It can be as small as a toothpick or as long as hundreds of thousand miles. Ruyi Jingu is able to grow on command to what the owner want. This staff is extremely heavy, only a few people besides the Wukong have the ability to lift it up. “Just placing it onto the floor was able to create cracks in the ground that reverberated up a gigantic hole up to its surface”. The weight of this staff can change by the command of Wukong. He sometimes like to make it lighter to increase the movement speed. Ruyi Jingu can levitate itself a certain distance from the ground. Wukong can leave this weapon anywhere and summon it when he wants. When summoned, the staff fly at an incredible speed and destroying anything on its path to get to its owner. Another amazing feature of this staff is its ability to clone itself. It is capable of killing thousands of gods instantly. “A casual strike with Ruyi Jingu destroyed many Gods at once, ripped Taek in half, and made a huge tsunami.”
Great things never come easy. That was the case for this weapon. This is the story of how Wukong traveled into the oceans in search of this weapon. One day, Wukong was searching for a signature weapon. He found many powerful weapons but none of them could match his power. He then found a demon that told him about this powerful weapon deep in the sea that no one can conquer. It is said to be located in the Dragon Palace of the Eastern Sea. He went down there as soon as he heard about it. When he got down there, it was chaos. Everything was shaking and fishes are dying everywhere. Wukong met the king of the ocean and asked for the weapon. The king of the ocean looked at him and laughed. He said no one on earth have the power to conquer this weapon. This weapon is the reason that it was so chaotic down here. Wukong being as cocky as he is, he laughed back at him and told him to take Wukong to the weapon. When Wukong got there, the weapon started glowing. The only way to conquer this weapon is to lift it up. No one was able to lift it up before. Not even the king of the Ocean. Wukong walked up to it and started lifting it up. It wasn’t easy but he finally got it up. At this point, we might think the weapon is his already but that wasn’t the case. This weapon started flying away on its own. Not giving up, Wukong flew after it and finally conquer it. After that, he brought it back to the sea to show the king of the ocean that he conquered it.
At this point, the king of the ocean started acting funny. He told Wukong to give it back because that weapon belongs to the sea. Of course, Wukong said no and didn’t give it back. The king of the ocean then commands all the warriors in that sea to surround Wukong and attack him. Using Ruyi Jingu, he destroyed all the sea warriors with one hit. He got out of there and the weapon became his. Taking this weapon would be stealing from the Dragon Palace of the Eastern Sea. The King of the Ocean did not take this lightly. Having no chance of stopping Sun Wukong, The King of the Ocean then reported this incident to The King of Heaven.
At this point in time The King of Heaven has now heard of Sun Wukong on many different occasions. He knew he would have to try to do something to stop him from causing more problems. Instead of sending an army to fight Wukong, The King of Heaven send a messenger to invite Wukong to become a god in heaven so he would stop causing problem. The king of heaven makes Sun Wukong the protector of the horses in heaven. Once Wukong realizes he is only a horse groom, he begins to start problems once again. The king of heaven then gave Wukong a different position so he wouldn’t start more problems. Everything was good for a while until Sun Wukong found out that he didn’t get invited to an important even when many other import gods were invited.
While the event was happening, Wukong went into Xi Wangmu’s place and stole his heavenly pills as a revenge. The pills he took were not regular pills, they were supernatural pills. “He steals and consumes Xi Wangmu’s Peaches of immortality, Laozi’s pills of longevity, and the Jade Emperor’s royal wine.” The pills he took were extremely valuable. It made him ten times stronger than he has ever been before. After that, he escapes back to his kingdom. Knowing that heaven will soon be after him, he’s in preparation for his rebellion.
The king of heaven sent an Army of Heaven’s 10,000 celestial warrior, all 28 constellations, four heavenly kings, and Nezha. Nezha is a very powerful god in the history of Chinese religion. He’s almost as powerful as Wukong is. You can guess what happened after that, he singles handedly beat each and every one of them. Knowing that there’s no way Wukong could be beaten, the king of heaven had to reach out for the help of Buddha, the awakened one.
It doesn’t matter how strong Wukong was. It doesn’t matter how strong his weapon was or how much abilities he has. It doesn’t matter if Wukong is the ultimate warrior. Buddha can’t be beaten. Buddha powers are greater than anyone can imagine. Buddha have the ability to increase his size to as big as he wants. He can teleport anywhere in a matter of a blink of an eye. With his super-hearing ability, he can gain information about an object, person, location, or physical event through perception. He has a third eye that give him the vision to see beyond ordinary sight. He also has the ability to see past life. In Buddhism, it is believed that you live many lives until you reach nirvana. One of the most powerful tool Buddha have is his knowledge. His knowledge is unmatched by anyone. Buddha is amazing since the day he was born. “Every place the baby Buddha placed his foot, a lotus flower bloomed.” 
When Buddha met Wukong, he bet that Wukong would not be able to escape from his palm. Wukong being the bold, arrogant monkey he is, accepted this bet. Buddha open his hand and Wukong jumped right onto it. After he got on it and they were both ready, Wukong started flying away. He flew halfway across the world thinking that he got away. He looked down and all he could see is the palm of buddha. It looked hundreds of time bigger than it was minutes ago. Buddha immediately put his hand over Wukong. He pushed Wukong down to earth and formed a huge mountain on top of him. Buddha then sealed it with powerful spells so Wukong couldn’t escape. At this point, Wukong realize that he is not invincible.
“Five hundred years later, the Bodhisattva Guanyin searches for disciples to protect a monk on a journey to the West to retrieve the Buddhist sutras.” Bodhisattva went to the mountain Wukong was trapped under and made a deal with him. If Wukong agrees to help the monk, he will be freed. Under one condition, he has to wear a steel, golden hat that gives the monk power over him. If Sun Wukong begins to cause trouble, the monk could stop him in his tracks. All the monk has to do is read a passage then the hate will start to shrink. This will bring Wukong unimaginable pain. During the journey, many different monsters tried to kill the monk but Wukong was always there to protect him. He helped the monk across the West and fought many battles to help him along this journey. Wukong became a better person as times pass by. He matured and stop causing problems. He would help people when they’re in need. He learned a lot from the monk. He learned how to be patient and control his temper.
After Sun Wukong helped the monk reach his destination. They both reached nirvana. Nirvana is the final goal of Buddhism, where there is no suffering, desire or “sense of self”. Nirvana is a state of happiness and is a paradise. When someone reach nirvana, they are released from the effects of karma and the cycle of death and rebirth.
There are many lessons to be learned. Wukong is the ultimate warrior. He is so powerful and his abilities are unmatched by other warriors. On top of that, his weapon gives him an even bigger advantage on his opponents.
The second lesson to be learned is Buddha is above all. No one can beat him. Not even Wukong. Buddha is more than a warrior. He is the superior of all kind. He’s bigger than life and his abilities are unmatched. On top of all that, his knowledge goes beyond this world.
Practicing Buddhism makes you a better person. There are many benefits that come with it. For example, it calms you down as it did to Wukong. Wukong was known as a hot head but at the end of the day, practicing Buddhism calmed him down. That’s why today, Buddhism is one of the biggest religion out there. Many people practice it all over the world.
Ten percent of the world’s population practice Buddhism. 535 million people practice it as of the 2010s. China is the country with the largest population of Buddhists, approximately 244 million or 18.2% of its total population. I also practice Buddhism it and makes me a better version of myself.
Thank you everyone for listening, it has been a pleasure for me to present this very fascinating folktale of Wukong the ultimate warrior. My name is Giang Nguyen and this is the story of how Sun Wukong became the ultimate warrior.