Journey To The West”

Story

Sun Wukong, also known as the Monkey King, is one of the main characters in the iconclastic Chinese novel, "Journey to the West." He is a powerful and mischievous monkey who possesses extraordinary strength, agility, and intelligence. He is also known for his magical abilities, including his ability to transform into different animals, summon clouds to fly on, and use a staff that can change size at will. According to the novel, he was born from a stone and acquired hispowers through years of Taoist training. He becomes rebellious and seeks to overthrow the gods who rule over the heavens, leading to his imprisonment under a mountain for five hundred years.When the monk Tang Sanzang embarks on a journey to the west to retrieve Buddhist scriptures, he meets Sun Wukong and recruitshim to be his disciple. Together with the pig demon Zhu Bajie and the water monster Sha Wujing, they encounter various obstacles and enemies on their journey, including demons, monsters, and gods.

Despite his mischievous nature and tendency to cause trouble, Sun Wukong proves to be a loyal and indispensable ally to Tang Sanzang. He uses his cunning and strength to overcome challenges and protect his master, demonstrating his deep sense of honor and loyalty. His journey to enlightenment, as well as his misadventures, make him one of the most beloved characters in Chinese literature.

Interpretation

The “Monkey Mind” is a term used in Eastern philosophy to describe the restless and unsettled nature of the human mind. Like Sun Wukong, our minds are constantly jumping from thought to thought, never settling down and often causing us to feel anxious and stressed

The lesson of the allegory is that, like Sun Wukong, we must learn to control our Monkey Mind in order to achieve inner peace and happiness. This can be done through meditation, mindfulness, and other spiritual practices that help us to focus our minds and calm our restless thoughts. Ultimately, the allegory of Sun Wukong serves as a reminder that we are all capable of great power and potential, but that we must first learn to master our own minds before we can achieve our goals and live a fulfilling life.

Zhu Bajie: Pigsy

An Illustration from the 18th Century.

A lazy and gluttonous pig who also becomes one of Xuanzang's disciples.

Monkey Mind

Sha Wujing: Sandy An Illustration from the 18th Century.

A former heavenly general who has been banished to Earth and becomes the third of Xuanzang's disciples.

Sun Wukong: Depiction of Sun Wukong in ancient chinese scriptures.

Sun Wukong: Depiction of the Jade Emperor also known as the First Emperor of China. Sun Wukong: In the Story, Sun Wukong symbolises the “Monkey Mind.” It’s a term used in Eastern philosophy to describe the restless and unsettled nature of the human mind.

Journey to the West: An Illustration from the 18th Century.

Pigsy is enticed by earthly temptations in a trick from the Gods.

The Monkey King and Xuanzang are unmoved.

Sun Wukong: Monkey King

An Illustration from the 18th Century.

Sun Wukong is a mischievous and powerful monkey who is known for his ability to transform into different shapes and sizes, and for his incredible strength and agility. He is plagued by an insatiable curiosity and restlessness.

Journey to the West:

Sun Wukong depicted when he returns from the journey after an arguement with the buddhist monk. His loyal followers lay beneath him. feasting on large bundles of fruits.

Tang Sanzang: Tripitaka

An Illustration from the 18th Century.

A Buddhist monk who is on a journey to India toobtain Buddhist scriptures. Sun Wukong becomeshis disciple and accompanies him on his journey.

He is sent on a mission to India to obtain Buddhist scriptures, and he sets out on his journey with Sun Wukong and other disciples.

Journey to the West: An Illustration from the 18th Century.

Sun Wukong travelling through mountains along a river..

Journey to the West:

Sun Wukong being brought in front of the Jade Emperor to join the Buddhist monk on his journey to India in search of ancient scriptures.

Journey to the West: The adventures walking through farm land that is owned by evil women aimed trap Sun Wukong and the other travellers as a test by the Jade Emperor to see they’re loyal to the cause.

Sun Wukong and his companions venturing through mythological Mountain Ranges that span 1000s of miles.

Sun Wukong being disbanded from the group after a disagreement about his morality by his monk master.

A depiction of the eastern philosophy idea of monkey mind as an abstract term, in a traditional chinese illustration design.

Monkey Mind

Gained magical abilities such as the capability to transform into 72 different creatures, supernatural strength and a staff that allows him to fly using clouds.

Monkey Mind

The following images are from my initial skin testing and focused on origami systems that have multiple states, however, need to find a system that could have both a stable state and a unstable state my final design will focus on in reference to the stories allegory.

The diagram displays how the components are put together and how the shape is formed for a 75x75 square cut out. This modular shape can manipulated to join in various different ways creating stable and unstable structures through manipulating the forces applied to it through pulleys (muscles). I believe this design is more successful than previous skin attempts as it provides better material qualities than previous generations.

DOCUMENTATION: 1

This is the initial method utilised to join the modules together. The extended state was highly unstable as the pieces were loose and freely moving, whereas, the closer the components were, the more stable the structure became.

DOCUMENTATION: 2

Following, the initial test the second method used to connect the piece utilised the top flap extentions to connect the pieces together horizontally. A compressive force can be applied to both ends to push the shapes together and forms an unstable state that immediately returns to the starting position.

DOCUMENTATION: 3

For the final concept model I decided to combined a simplistic pulley system that applies force vertically to the elements along its central axis. creating an expanding and contracting mechanism. The skin elements are suspended by the pulley system in a frame and held together by small springs designed to intentional pull the origami together against the pulley system to make it controllable and repeatable.

DOCUMENTATION: 4

The mechanism functioned well for a prototype. forming the basis of my project, however, the control over the extention and through the pulley system was limited. A system that locks at particular intervals would work more effectively for this use case.

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Monkey Mind

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3D DIAGRAM:

ARM STEP 1:

The initial aim was to use a series of triangular connections to create a dynamic interplay between different bone systems using various attached pulley systems powered by a motor. This concept only had a loose connection to original story line and hence, the bone system changed: experimenting with rib like systems to them single arm like systems that reflected a more chaotic and free form approach.

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