There once was a kid named Sun who lived up in the mountains. He was the biggest and strongest of all the kids up there. You know how it goes, everyone follows the biggest guy and he thinks he's totally invincible. Big fish in a little pond and all that. Sun lived it up like this until one day a man from the city was passing through and happened upon Sun and his posse. They all acted as tough as they could, trying to impress and intimidate the man, but he just laughed at them. Sun thought he was big and tough, but he had nothing on the guys from the city.
Sun's friend tried to tell him the guy was crazy; there's no way anybody could ever match up to Sun, but Sun was never the same after that. He'd always have a nagging feeling that he wasn't the best and that drove him crazy. Finally it got to the point where he couldn't take it anymore. He was going to go to the city and prove once and for all he was the best. The entire village came to see him off and wish him the best of luck and with that, Sun was off.
Cue travel montage
On the Road Again, Source
After travelling for several days, Sun found himself in the biggest city he'd ever seen. Immediately, he tried to start picking fights with everyone that passed him by. They all just gave him a look like he'd lost his mind and kept on their way. Sun thought this meant that all of them were afraid but soon he realized they just didn't care. He eventually got one person to stop. He told them why he was there and how he wanted to prove he was the strongest. They gave him an odd look and told him to go talk to the Old Man. The Old Man, known by all by only that name, ran a gym and was the most respected man in the entire city. Sun immediately set off to find this gym, overjoyed at the idea of testing his strength.
He arrived at the gym and was greeted by two of the largest people he'd ever seen. They easily had a foot and a half on him and fifty pounds a foot. Sun asked to see the Old Man and the two motioned inside. The Old Man already knew why Sun was there. Countless numbers had come to him to test their strength and to become the best. Sun tried to throw the first punch, but just the aura about the Old Man made him back down and fall to his knees. He begged to learn the Old Man's ways, saying he'd do absolutely anything. The Old Man agreed, however he warned that the training would push Sun to his absolute limits. The training consisted of three parts. First, the body must be trained, then the mind, then the spirit. After that one can achieve true strength.
Cue training montage
Rocky Theme Song, Source
Next came the mental training. Sun was tasked with reading every book in the entire gym. This didn't seem like an incredible task, until Sun saw the back room. There were boxes upon boxes of books, easily numbering in the thousands. Still undeterred and overly determined, Sun set to work.
It took nearly two months, but Sun finally completed the task. This brought the final training. It is both the simplest and most difficult. Sun would have to sit on the roof, unmoving, until he realized the answer to the question. That was all the Old Man said before he left. Bewildered, Sun went to the roof and sat, and sat, and sat. Rain, snow, sleet, he sat there without moving. He was on that roof for so long people thought there was just a new statue up there, but eventually he realized the question and the answer. He told the Old Man his revelation and the Old Man congratulated him; Sun had realized the meaning of true strength. With that, the Old Man had nothing left to teach Sun and sent him on his way and Sun went back to his mountain, forever changed.
Getting Zen now
Rocky during his training, Source
Author's Notes:
This is the story of Sun Wu Kung, the Monkey King from Chinese legend. He came from a mountain where he lived with his tribe of monkeys and sought the means for eternal life. He searched in a city but found nothing. He eventually found the monastery of a Saint master who taught the ways of Tao. Sun learned all he could from him and was eventually sent home.
The original story skipped over a lot of the training or treated it in a very mystical way. I thought it'd be entertaining to relate the training to the type of training we do in everyday life, while still showing the scale of the tasks. I also thought this type of training fit well with the Rocky motif. There's also the added fact that Sun Wu Kung was born from a boulder and is actually a stone ape, which would make him a pretty good Rocky.
Bibliography:
The Monkey King Sun Wu Kung from Chinese Fairy Book by Wilhelm , Link
