Wukong (full name: Sun Wukong, Chinese: 孙悟空) was a spirit monkey (macaque) living in the Tang Dynasty. His human identity was a disciple of the Buddhist monk Xuanzang.
Wukong is one of the most outstanding martial arts and spells experts in the history of Chinese spirit animals. During his journey to the west with Xuanzang (CE 629), he acted as his master’s bodyguard, defeating spirit animals along the way who believed in eating Xuanzang would somehow grant them immortality. During this journey, he mastered a great number of foreign spells.
After returning to China, Wukong assisted Xuanzang in translating the Buddhist scriptures they brought back from India (CE 645). In his spare time, he recompiled the “Essential Spells for Spirit Animals“, incorporating all the spells he had mastered into it, resulted in the “Essential Spells for Spirit Animals Expanded” featuring over 300 spells. This version is known as the “Sun Edition.”
In his later years, Wukong lived in seclusion on Shuilian Mountain (水濂山) in Dongguan. The Kongshan spirit realm he discovered and managed still exists today.
(This article will be expanded in the future)
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