Wukong and Freedom in China

Wukong and Freedom in China Recently, I've renewed my interest in Journey to the West. In the Chinese context, it's a peculiar book. Though Patriarch Bodhi named him "Wukong" (Awakening to Emptiness), perhaps no being on this land has ever exhibited stronger ego attachment. After receiving this name, what followed was tearing up the Book of Life and Death, wreaking havoc in Heaven, and proclaiming himself the Great Sage Equal to Heaven. Clearly, the name "Wukong" was imposed upon him. This is probably what Black Myth: Wukong calls "tianming" (Mandate of Heaven). What is tianming? The institutionalization of Mandate of Heaven truly took form in the Spring and Autumn Annals. It's called "Spring and Autumn" rather than "Summer and Winter" because within a year, the state operates: "A year's plan begins in spring," "execution after autumn," "settling accounts after autumn." Spring is the beginning of order, autumn is the reckoning of gains and losses, while winter and summer are merely silent, executing processes—this is the rhythm of the state. History is the continuation of the Spring and Autumn order, and should only be the continuation of this order. The reason Records of the Grand Historian could write "Are kings, dukes, generals, and ministers born to their stations?" and "He can be replaced" and still be considered orthodox, is because it co-opted all these figures under the proper titles of "hereditary houses" and "biographies." From Chen Sheng and Wu Guang's perspective, they likely coveted wine, women, wealth, and power, without any sense of "receiving Heaven's mandate." But in the Records, before their stories, it must be that the realm has long suffered under tyrannical Qin. This indicates the Mandate has shifted—it's merely a question of who can bear it. Wukong appears neither to inherit the Spring and Autumn order nor to shift the Mandate. Rather, he starts anew: my destiny equals Heaven. This is extremely dangerous in the traditional Chinese context, an existence that cannot be rationalized. Fortunately, it is not human. But even so it must still be pressed under Five Elements Mountain, bound by the golden circlet, set on the journey West, and finally pacified with the title "Victorious Fighting Buddha." Wukong is clearly unwilling at the end—these are all shackles, in a civilization whose main axis is the continuation of order, used to bind the deepest primitive impulses. So I feel that Black Myth: Wukong's design—having the "Destined One" smash the remnants of the "Victorious Fighting Buddha" to pieces—is extremely faithful to the original work. But like the saying goes about revolutionary cycles, smashing things brings momentary satisfaction. To sit on the throne, one still needs Spring and Autumn rites and laws. We can only say that China has a tradition of freedom, but it never became the Spring and Autumn rhythm.