Monkey See, Monkey Learn
How The Monkey King's Quest for Immortality is a Lesson in Skill Mastery
The following is an excerpt from my upcoming book, Way of the Monkey King. While many are familiar with the character’s magical and martial abilities, most do not know that he learns from one of ten greatest disciples, Subhuti or Subodhi as he’s known in the novel. His apprenticeship took 10 years. As I’ve said before, the book, Journey to the West, isn’t just entertainment, it is a commentary on personal development. It is a holly scripture that, if unpacked and understood, is supposed to bring readers further along their own spiritual paths.
After becoming conscious of death, the newly-crowned “Handsome Monkey King” decides to set out and overcome the problem by attaining immortality. Unlike many kings and despots from Gilgamesh to Qin Shihuang who also undertook the project and failed, Monkey succeeds. What sets the Monkey King apart? While we may not have his natural gifts or talents, we can emulate his commitment and audacity.
Master the Basics
In the book, Monkey is given a name by the great Subodhi “Monkey becoming aware of the void” aka Wukong, then handed over to lesser disciples. In traditional martial arts, this would have been very common. New students do not learn from the top master until they’ve reached an intermediate level of proficiency. After all, the master has only so much time and so many students, so he teaches only that which the other students cannot.
So Monkey trains in everything from speech to etiquette to calligraphy. He also served as a literal servant, sweeping the floors, gathering firewood, and serving drinks. Unlike the Karate Kid conception of these menial tasks, in which painting a fence is actually training the movement to block a punch, hard labor is less about masking secret techniques and more about toughening the body, paying one’s dues, and training endurance of spirit. There’s no ‘magic reveal’, hard work itself is the point. Monkey’s greatest distinction was that he happily did it all without complaint, letting six or seven years pass with such single-minded purpose that it impressed even the master.
So while you could say that Monkey was singled out due to a natural aptitude for the mystical arts, it’s just part of the story. In the martial art of Jiu-Jitsu, it’s been said that you will find many talented black belts, but you will not find any that did not work extremely hard to get there. Likewise, whether we have innate talent or not, it is necessary that we grasp the basics and put in the drudgery of work.
Today we have this expectation that we should be naturally good at something or else it’s not worth learning. Leary of cults and Ponzi schemes, we don’t want to invest unless there are instant returns. Schools are constantly trying to make learning and skill acquisition fun and entertaining. What we don’t realize is that some things are only possible if you first have faith. What we in the West label as the placebo effect is actually a huge part of what makes our reality possible. If we don’t believe in ourselves and our process, then we will never see the fruits. Commitment comes before outcome, and growth comes only after hardship. Like many apprentices of old, Monkey put his faith in the process and went about serving his superiors for seven years until he was ready to learn the key to long life.
Have the Audacity to Ask (and Keep Asking)
When the time came to learn more advanced arts, his master, Subodhi, asked him in front of all his students what Monkey should like to study. Determined to learn the key to immortality, Monkey refused to learn this art and that, until his master, frustrated, struck him three times on the head and then walked back into his house. Again, Monkey distinguishes himself from the rest of us. I can think of many college students who, finding their preferred class full, opt for ones they’re only partially interested in, with lackluster results to show for it at the end of the semester. Better to audit the class you want until space opens up. People want to help those who truly want to learn. And persistence must eventually yield results.
While all the other students were shocked that Monkey had so angered the Master, Monkey knew better. Getting hit on the head three times meant that he needed to come back at the third watch. That the Master had gone back into his house through the front door was a sign to Monkey that he should come in through the back, out of sight of his fellow students.
The fact that he had a single-minded purpose and talent might have marked him out for additional instruction, but it was his ability to read the signs, to persist, and show up at the appointed hour that made him different from all the others. In real life, you see this all the time. Another saying common to Jiu-Jitsu students is, “a black belt is just a white belt that never quit”. And so it is that Monkey never quit.
Act On Your Hunches and Drill, Drill, Drill
Monkey read the secret signs of his master and went to see him when all the other students were sleeping. He committed himself to learn the secret techniques and practiced until he got it. At the end of the day, this is the key to mastery: The bravery to ask about that which we don’t know, and the commitment to practice until we perform flawlessly.
It would take another three years before Monkey attained the secrets of longevity for himself. Along the way, he also picked up numerous powers and skills, like the Seventy-Two transformations he’s famous for, as well as the somersault that can take him one hundred and eight thousand miles. Having attained these immortal skills, death is no longer a match for the Handsome Monkey King.
Everything Is Training As Long As You’re Passionate About It
While Monkey’s world contains techniques that can be practiced that will lead to excellence in manipulating the laws of reality and the aging process, for us it may not be so easy. To date, no human being can say they’ve actually mastered the art of living forever. But that may be the point.
Monkey is an archetype, and so his pursuits are also broadly archetypal. For the rest of us, the task is to attain mastery in something more specific and something equally engrossing for us. It would be easy to solve the problem of life by some magical art that could extend it indefinitely, but our lives are more complex than that. For us, the key to life usually lies in less abstract life pursuits, but in doing right by our family, working on meaningful projects, and overall just contributing to the best of our abilities.
Through the mastery of his life, Monkey became also a master of various skills. For us, mastery of the skills that give us meaningful joy has been proven to also be a cure for extending our lives: people who live purposeful, fulfilling lives, who have what is known as Ikigai, are far more likely to live longer, healthier lives than those who leave their reason for being undefined. Perform your skill with 100% commitment and practice until you get it right, and you just might find yourself with plenty of extra time, aka life, on your hands.
Still not convinced that no task is too menial for spiritual enlightenment? When Wukong’s fellow students hear that he can somersault over a hundred thousand miles, they joke that the ideal student is now the ideal delivery person. Indeed, Monkey does spend 85% of the novel picking up and delivering a set of holy scriptures with his master Tripitaka. Journey to the West really is the tale of the world’s oldest Uber driver!
It's always been interesting to me that the Monkey King succeeds with his teacher by being audacious, difficult, and unorthodox.