Legends Summarized: Journey To The West (Part X)

One of the Sun Wukongs: Shoot him, Pigsy! I'm the real Monkey King! Pigsy: (aiming at him) The real Brother Sun would never pass up an opportunity to prove how immortal he is!

I love how Buddha has to alter his lecture after this episode. Like, “There are four beings that don’t fit into any of those categories” bonk “There are three beings that don’t fit into any of those categories”

Love how guanyin is basically Wu Kong’s calm older sister. She’s so done with him, but also cares about him and gives him good advice

Fun fact: among Chinese readers of the Journey to the West, there is a VERY VERY popular theory (that’s also kind of an inside joke) that Wukong LOST to the Six Eared Macaque, and that he got fully replaced after the event. This is due to how wildly different Wukong’s characterization becomes after this specific challenge. So we still sometimes joke about it.

"There are 5 kinds of immortals" and monkey collected them like fucking pokemon cards

"Quan-Yin takes a quick peak into Tripitaka's future and tells Monkey that Tripitaka will be in great danger soon." She didn't even need to do that to come to that conclusion, he gets into great danger on a practically daily basis.

We don't give enough credit to the underworld dog. He knew the Six-Eared Macaque was there, but he could not reveal it because Macaque would destroy everything in the Underworld.

I love how with the growing popularity of the lego monkie kid show this series is being visited and shared as reference material for understanding Journey to the west

“Which I could have rephrased but chose not to” I love red so much 😂

Sometimes I'm like "God, this is so tropey!" and then I remember how old this is and that it INVENTED these tropes and I'm once again fascinated

I love how Quan Yin is just "oh this dumbass, Buddha help me" for like the 1009th time in a row, she's truly probably one of the most patient monks ever-

I’ve heard that the Six-Eared Macaque’s name may be a reference to his powers. Apparently, there is an old idiom that talks about not letting your words be heard by the ‘Sixth Ear’. This idiom basically cautions the listener against being eavesdropped, if two people are having a conversation then there are Four ears between them BUT, if a third person is listening in on them, then there are Six ears. Apparently this idiom is even used earlier in JTTW when then the monk teaches Monkey how to become immortal. So essentially, since Macaque has the ability to hear anything in a massive radius around him, this would make him the “Sixth Ear” in every conversation, thus he is called the Six-Eared Macaque. I haven’t read this chapter yet, so I’m curious if Macaque is actually described as having Six ears or if he’s only ever called Six-Eared Macaque as a title. Also I presume this ability to hear anything is how Macaque went about his way to become as powerful as Wukong, just stalking him the entire journey and listening for the right moment to rob Tripitaka.

East Asian(Korean) here, and I just want to bring some context as to why Tripitaka kicking out Sun Wukong comes across as such a big deal. In East Asian cultures the relationship between teacher and student is considered much deeper than a Western audience might think. There is a common saying 'Your monarch, Your teacher, and Your parent are the same'. Students had to treat teachers with the same degree of reverence as a monarch, and the same degree of fondness as a parent. Of course, this works both ways, teachers having to do vice versa. According to these ethics, Tripitaka and Sun Wukong are both showing exemplary BAD behavior here. A disciple going against the teacher's wish and commiting revenge is equal to treason. Yet kicking said disciple out and more importantly, rejecting his desire to reform is equal to abandoning your child. Both unacceptable actions in the social norms at the time. This is why the Buddha himself acts as a moral compass for these misguided souls.

A common interpretation of the 6 ears macaque is that he is the physical manifestations of the savage nature or evil within wukong. They are the same, figuratively 2 side of the same coin, that’s why the macaque have all the same abilities, strength and why most gods can’t tell the difference. Which also explains why the macaque have no backstory and seemly came out of nowhere. This incident is an allegory of wukong beating his inner demon, literally. Afterward wukong is a bit more peaceful, a bit

12:20 I choose to believe that “recognizes the seasons” and “discerns the advantages of Earth” is why Monkey was so pumped a few episodes ago when it snowed, why he built a snowman, and loved the peaceful tranquility of the fresh snowfall.

Honestly, the more I hear about Ol' Six Ears, the more I think his motivation was a mixture of jealousy and loneliness. Like, the first thing he did was offer Tripataka (I can't spell that name) an act of kindness and goodwill, even if for self-serving motivations to insert himself into the group, and only freaked out afterwards. Like, no doubt, he's a bad dude, but... I feel just slightly bad for him. Just a smidge.

5:18 "Merciful Buddha, do me a solid here: give the strength to not smack a monk upside the head." I love how Kuanyin is slowly transitioning from a zen queen to a supportive but increasingly aggravated aunt who's 85% done with her chaotic nephews’ sh*t. Honestly, mood.

The fact that their is an entire group of all-powerful cosmic immortal mystical monkeys that lie outside general categories is just hilarious

I love the chaotic feverish ADHD fighting of the two monkeys as they continuously try to one up the other My personal favorite line is: "Alright buddy I'll see you in HELL!" "Not if I get there first!"

I love Sandy so much. He's like the reliable dad of the crew who also has his limits (i.e the imposter Sandy murder) He even made some dad jokes last episode