#perhaps religion itself or rather the religious institutions since we do see both daoist and buddist monks as antagonists in the book | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

the-monkey-ruler · 7 months ago

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I was reading The Monkey King's Daughter (you can read the whole book for an hour) and apparently the protagonist is also Guanyin's grandchild? Can Guanyin be shipped?

I mean I can’t say like what are like the moral implications of shipping GuanYin itself cause that is so not my place but I’m still going to answer this cause it kinda of interesting when it comes to modern media. First off saying that like I have never really seen romance done with GuanYin. At least in a serious way. But if I had to take a guess it can be seen as 'possible' as much as like shipping anyone in Chinese mythos, in that isn't really taken seriously at all. In a lot of modern fan spaces there are a variety of crack ships for more humorous or hypothetical situations like I have seen literally the Star of Venus shipped with Jade Emperor just cause. But I don't see much with buddhas or bodhisattvas in either post-modern media nor in fan spaces. At least that isn't Wukong or Sanzang since they are both Buddhas. And I have done a whole thing about how Wukong for decades wasn’t seen as a romantic figure until like there was a huge character reconstruction, but that isn’t usually the case for most characters.

I would say that the most mainstream instance I can think off the top of my head is The Lost Empire (2001) where it had the main character has a romantic plot with Gaunyin herself. Of course, that wasn't really a masterpiece within itself but this was considered like a 'bad choice' more so that it was just a very strange and awkward romance at that.

Funny enough I think I see more romantic for humor's sake on Guanyin in comic books or games as likes gags at most. Like in Westward comics (later a tv series) Guanyin has a celestial-turned-demon trying to pursue him that he always rejects. Another is more play for laughs but Guanyin in the Fei Ren Zai where people just don't know it's Guanyin and think she is so attractive.

I've seen some games that have Guanyin as like a pretty boy/girl but otherwise nothing even close to a romance plot. Those are more just for like aesthetics of making every character look overly attractive to sell it.

The best I can say is that is just kinda strange and a little strange personally but I can't say that it can be taken seriously. I mean Wukong is supposed to be a Buddha by the end of the novel, so if The Monkey King's Daughter has it that a buddha can have a daughter then there wouldn't be anything stopping the author from having a bodhisattva having kids.

#anon ask #anonymous #anon #ask #sun wukong #monkey king #guanyin #chinese mythos #monkey king's daughter #Wukong is pretty self contained within Xiyouji himself so asking for a little bit of suspension of disbelief can be understood #but Gaunyin has a much longer history that is far more embedded with Buddhist mythology #She isn’t just a character in Xiyouji #and it would be limiting to her just to make it so #but I do think that might be the case in some media when it comes to portraying Gaunyin #esp since most modern interpretations of Guanyin are from xiyouji material just cause the sheer amount of xiyouji content there is #I rarely see Guanyin stand alone moves/shows and there are some trust me but most of her portrayals are within xiyouji spaces #there is a lot of conversation about xiyouji either being a reconstruction or a deconstruction of religion #and while the book is SATURATED in allegorical meaning whether in taoism buddhism or chinese lore it is also seen as satire of religion #people can take xiyouji as pointing out the flaws in humanity but also the flaws of heaven as well as it humanizes both gods and buddhas #this kinda of humanization can be seen as disrespectful to a certain extent but it is what makes these figures more engaging as characters #from a writing standpoint at least #this is me just rambling now about the interesting dycotomy that xiyouji has and has had with religion and how that can be see as today #to a certain extent a lot of directors take xiyouji plots as also their own way to show the heavens in their own way to convey satire #or humor as well depending on what their direction is aiming for #Some even go so far to make that heaven is just straight up the bad guy and that includes buddha as well which is a FAR more wild take than #just having romance in the heavens #But xiyouji does have it that we see these mythological figures have flaws #that heaven can lie or trick or they can take bribes and its up to the audience to interpretation as either satire or if it is critiquing #perhaps religion itself or rather the religious institutions since we do see both daoist and buddist monks as antagonists in the book #this as nothing to do with the ask at this point but i just wanna say my thoughts

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