The Monkey King’s revolt against heaven culminates in his confrontation with the Buddha, and such confrontation carries symbolic significance. The Monkey King (aka Sun Wukong) has traditionally been viewed as a symbol of the mind, which connects to the concept of “the monkey of the mind,” or more accurately, xinyuan 心猿 (“Mind Ape” or sometimes translated as “Mind Monkey”).

This idea also speaks to the Monkey King’s talents, especially the somersault he used in his competition with the Buddha. In one somersault the Monkey King can fly 108,000 li, which roughly equals 33,554 miles. In the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, the Sixth Patriarch used 108,000 li to designate the distance between China and Śrāvastī. He further indicated that getting rid of the ten evils equals traveling a distance of 100,000 li and getting rid of eight deviations equals a distance of 8,000 li. According to him, if one can cultivate one’s mind and get rid of “ten evils and eight deviations,” one can instantly arrive at the Western pure land. For a discussion on this symbolic distance and its relation to the novel Journey to the West, see Ping Shao’s “Huineng, Subhūti and Monkey’s Religion in Xiyou ji,” in the Journal of Asian Studies. 

Without proper control and discipline, the mind can lead one astray, giving rise to delusions and chaos. The havoc in heaven caused by the Monkey King points to the need to control the mind. Therefore, the Buddha imprisoned the Monkey King under the mountain to still the Mind Monkey (ding Xinyuan 定心猿) for the time being. However, one also relies on the mind to reach enlightenment, and that movement toward enlightenment is a journey. To learn more about the Mind Monkey and the dual functions of the mind in the novel Journey to the West, see Ji Hao’s “Lust, Caution, and Enlightenment: A Reexamination of Su Wukong’s sexuality in Xiyou ji,” in the Journal of the American Oriental Society.

Shortly after Sun Wukong embarked on his journey to the West, he killed the six bandits who intercepted him and Tripitaka on their way. In the original novel, the six bandits were named “Eyes that See and Delight, Ears that Hear and Rage, Nose that Smells and Loves, Tongue that Tastes and Desires, Mind that Perceives and Craves, and Body that Presides and Suffers.” Sun Wukong’s violence here creates a paradox: On the one hand, his act of killing would disqualify Sun Wukong from being a Buddhist monk, as would his pilgrimage to the West (at least in the eyes of Tripitaka); on the other hand, it is necessary to get rid of sensual attachments since they serve as an obstacle on one’s path to enlightenment. For a discussion on the violence in the Journey to the West, see Frederick P. Brandauer’s essay, “Violence and Buddhist Idealism in the Xiyou Novels,” in Violence in China: Essays in Culture and Counterculture. 

Sun Wukong’s subsequent escape from the pilgrimage can also be interpreted as a mind wandering away from the right path, and thus the golden band put on his head is necessary to ensure the mind is under control and the mission will be carried out. This point is further underscored by the name of the spell recited by Tripitaka: “True Words for Controlling the Mind.” On their journey ahead, the pilgrims encounter a number of demons and monsters, which can also symbolize the chaotic state of the mind–– as concisely expressed in the concept of xinmo 心魔 (the demons of the mind).