Ryan Patrick’s Reviews > The Rise of the Monkey King: A Story in Simplified Chinese and Pinyin 600 Word Vocabulary Level > Status Update

"Please tell me my given name now," said Monkey.

"Because you seek truth, I will call you Wukong," replied the master.

"Now I am known as Sun Wukong!" rejoiced Monkey.

Sun Wukong studied with the master for seven years, and then one day, the master asked him, of all 360 paths to wisdom that he could teach him, which one would he choose to follow?

"I'm sorry!" says Monkey. "I don't have a name, because I don't have parents."
"Were you born from a tree?"
"No, from a rock."
"So, your parents are Heaven and Earth!" says Master Subodhi. "Show me how you walk."
Monkey was wearing human clothes, but he walked like a monkey.
"You walk like an ape, and your face is not pretty," says Subodhi. "You resemble an ape [husun], so your surname will be Sun."

Monkey tells him where he is from, but Subodhi thinks he is lying because Aolai is so far away. Monkey responds that he has traveled ten years to get here. When Subodhi asks him his name, Monkey thinks he asks about his temper and claims to not have one—if you scold or hit him, he won't reply in kind.

"Stupid Monkey. I asked about your name, not your temper," says Subodhi.

Monkey King says, "Yes, I am the new student."

They enter into the cave where the teacher, Subodhi, is teaching about 30 students. Monkey King bows down before the teacher, and asks him to teach him.

Subodhi asks him what his name and home country are.

The Monkey King walked down the road to a cave with a sign above: "The Mountain of Mind and Heart." He climbed a tree and played while he waited. When a young man comes out of the cave, Monkey King says he has come to learn. The boy says that he must be the new student he was sent to fetch.

Monkey King tells the man that he should be studying with his neighbor, the sage.
The man says he cannot; he must stay and take care of his mother.
"I understand," says Monkey King. "Can you tell me how to find this immortal?"
"He lives down this road, about 7 or 8 miles," says the man. "He has many students at the Mountain of Mind and Heart in the Crescent Moon and Three Stars cave."
"Thank you," says Monkey King.

Monkey King ran, shouting, "An immortal! An immortal!"
The old man asked him why he thought that.
"Your words are those of an immortal. Teach me!" said Monkey King.
"I learned those words from my neighbor. He told me to sing them when I was worried, and just now I was worried."

Monkey King walked into a forest and heard someone singing a song about his happy and simple life: "I chop wood; I sell wood. I buy some rice and a little wine. I sleep in the woods; the earth is my bed; a root is my pillow. I laugh easily; I don't worry. I don't have any plans. My life is simple and happy!" When Monkey King heard this, he thought, 'That is a sage."

The Monkey King looks and looks for a holy sage. He crosses over from the Southern Continent to the Western Continent. He encounters frightening animals but no sages. Then he comes to a beautiful mountain with a forest of trees. There must be a sage here, he thinks.

Monkey King travels by boat to the southern continent. He scares the local fishermen and steals the clothes of one and puts them on, so that now he looks like a human—but an ugly human. Then he walks day after day looking for a sage, but all he finds are people who want wealth and fame. They just want more stuff.