I'm a modern-day corporate drone, and after my seventh straight day of overtime, I transmigrated into the stone monkey that had just burst out of the rock on Flower-Fruit Mountain.
Looking at the mountainside crawling with chattering monkeys, and a real-estate ad that read “Blessed Land of Flower-Fruit Mountain, Grotto-Heaven of Water Curtain Cave,”
I was devastated. Other people transmigrate as kings and nobles, so how did I end up as a monkey?
Even worse, I knew what was coming: being crushed beneath Five Elements Mountain, having Tang Sanzang chant spells at me, and getting chased and beaten by all kinds of monsters!
No way. I'm not accepting this script!
As the monkeys cheered and chose me as their king, I cleared my throat.
“This king has decided... to set sail and find a master right now. I'm making a run for it tonight!”
The traditional Journey to the West is too serious. It's a classic, sure, but I want to see a different kind of Sun Wukong, one with a sense of justice and responsibility, with a human side, and all kinds of romantic entanglements.
In troubled times, Daoists descend the mountain to save the world, while Buddhists shut themselves away from it. In times of peace, Daoists retreat to cultivate, while Buddhists open their gates to welcome offerings.
They both eat vegetarian food, yet Daoist masters are usually ethereal and gaunt.
Buddhist monks, meanwhile, are usually plump and round-faced?
Take butchers, for example.
A butcher who has killed countless people is cast into hell by the Three Pure Ones to suffer endless punishment.
A butcher who has killed countless people is told by the Buddha to lay down his knife and attain Buddhahood on the spot.
Ha.
