#given that a major reason buddhist monks shave their heads is to illustrate their renunciation of the worldly ego

[sketching-shark]

“‘To tell you the truth, Master,’ said Pilgrim, ‘when I, old Monkey, was king on the Flower-Fruit Mountain five hundred years ago, I killed I don’t know how many people. I would not have been a Great Sage, Equal to Heaven, if I had lived by what you are saying.’”

-Journey to the West, trans. Anthony C. Yu

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TBH to this day one of the points I find most interesting about Xiyoji is its presentation of & the questions it implicitly raises about what kind of violence is acceptable and what kind is unacceptable, such as with Sun Wukong being berated by Tang Sanzang for having murdered so many individuals he lost count vs. the monk’s intense admiration for the Tang emperor despite this man also being described as an someone who had “countless people” killed, including, or so the text heavily implies, his own brothers. It could just be an example of that old trend where if you win your wars you’re considered a great and benevolent ruler but if you lose you’re remembered as a bloodthirsty demon.

[angstandhappiness]

INTERESTING

OP's tags @sketching-shark #also feeling like this design for the monkey king is closer to a design i'm satisfied with#i kind of like the idea of him having long hair during his time as a yaoguai king too#i feel like it would help serve to illustrate his transition from warlord to buddhist pilgrim too#given that a major reason buddhist monks shave their heads is to illustrate their renunciation of the worldly ego

@rosxtii #Oh wow..#never thought about that!#can we have adaptation which explores this idea more??#if there isn’t one yet tho

@crzyimp #reblogged this once before and doing it again!

@sapphire-monkey #this looks so cool

@relmint #I reall love the outfit you drew him in Shark!#also lawl regarding Tang Xuanzang's hypocrisy#the double standard is real 😭😭#Maybe it's also because Sun Wukong is a yao guai#and one thing I noticed with Tripitaka's attitude towards Wukong is how he always expects the worse from the monkey#so when Wukong kills it's not for some greater cause#to him Wukong kills because he's wild and uncontrollable#juxtapose that to the revered Emperor Taizong#who's rule was said to have marked the China's golden age#Yes the Emperor killed people#but the kingdom flourished under his rule#also didn't Chen Guangri and Lady Yin have some connection to Emperor Taizong 🤔 There's a possibility that could play a part in#in Tripitaka's bias as well lawl

@leptosia-nina #MAN THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVE WUKONG DESIGNS <3#hes just so imposing i love it#i think ive seen that question before#and like... yeah it always bothered me ever since as well lol#i have to wonder if it might be a case of#'the ends justify the means'#i think i saw it in the 1998 show#where sanzang was defending emperor taizong from his murdered ghost brother#by basically saying 'look at how peaceful and prosperous and happy the empire and its people are now'#'taizong is a good emperor#could you have done better than him?'#or something like that#so that's.... one take on the issue lol

@the-winedark #this art fucks! @darkfalcon-z: #amazing art

@fansids #well history is written by the victors or something of that ilk#DAAAMMNNN#this design SLAPSSS#the red splatter across the face like blood. immaculate#the color palette man...soooo goood#and the teeth#really looks like a portrait of a ruler#The brain goes 'oh important person' then does a double take and goes 'oh wait that's a monkey'#which is the story of SWK's life tbh

@art-and-writing-knox-me-down #oh oh yeah#yeeaaaah#man#the win means good lose means evil demon bit is MMM YEAH /POS#will think about that very much

@sixteenthchapel #hooolly molllyyy#MAN THIS ART#thats BEAUTIFUL like legit haunting#the really detailed and elegant linework combined with the minimalist colors#the red blood looking smear over his face#always enamored with how you handle teeth they're just so cool#i want this on my wall its so damn good#also thats a good point!!! i wonder..#it feels like what wukong says to xuanzang here is correct but only from his viewpoint.#he values what he achieved and his title as great sage but he achieved it thru violence#while xuanzang is hopefully teaching him that these achievements are not actually that great compared to what he could have thru nonviolenc#at least imo but still aaaaaaaaaaaaaa#flipping my lid over this art

“‘To tell you the truth, Master,’ said Pilgrim, ‘when I, old Monkey, was king on the Flower-Fruit Mountain five hundred years ago, I killed I don’t know how many people. I would not have been a Great Sage, Equal to Heaven, if I had lived by what you are saying.’”

-Journey to the West, trans. Anthony C. Yu

—-

TBH to this day one of the points I find most interesting about Xiyoji is its presentation of & the questions it implicitly raises about what kind of violence is acceptable and what kind is unacceptable, such as with Sun Wukong being berated by Tang Sanzang for having murdered so many individuals he lost count vs. the monk’s intense admiration for the Tang emperor despite this man also being described as an someone who had “countless people” killed, including, or so the text heavily implies, his own brothers. It could just be an example of that old trend where if you win your wars you’re considered a great and benevolent ruler but if you lose you’re remembered as a bloodthirsty demon.