Why Can't Sun Wukong Jump Out of the Palm of Buddha Tathagata?

Before explaining this question, let's think about it. Why did the Jade Emperor choose to invite Buddha Tathagata to subdue the demon instead of using the various gods in Heaven?

In fact, the fact that Sun Wukong would cause trouble was already destined when he was learning from Patriarch Bodhi. At first, Sun Wukong only wanted to learn the art of immortality. But Patriarch Bodhi knew that simply learning the art of immortality could not truly achieve immortality, so he also bestowed upon him the 72 transformations and the somersault cloud.

The 72 transformations are mainly used to prevent natural disasters and enhance combat power. The somersault cloud enables one to move extremely fast. These two skills combine both offense and defense, and are especially suitable for escape. If used in conjunction with the Golden Cudgel, they can produce a superimposed effect, and in hand-to-hand combat, there are few opponents.

So, if the heavenly gods don't use magic treasures and simply compete with Sun Wukong in martial arts and transformation skills, it's very difficult to subdue him. The Heaven once tried this. When Sun Wukong rebelled against Heaven, the Jade Emperor dispatched Li Jing and his son Nezha to subdue the demon.

The first to fight was the Great Spirit God:

The second to fight was Nezha, who competed in skills:

Sun Wukong has another ability that few people pay attention to: his extremely strong learning ability. Whatever magic spell others use, he can quickly master it by imitating.

So, he also imitated Nezha and transformed into a form with three heads and six arms. The two were once again evenly matched. Also, when Sun Wukong fought against Erlang Shen, he applied what he had learned. At that time, Erlang Shen said to Li Jing:

So, the two fought three hundred rounds first. Then Erlang Shen used the magic of "assuming the form of heaven and earth". Sun Wukong followed suit, becoming the same size and appearance as Erlang Shen.

However, when it came to transformation skills, Sun Wukong was a bit weaker. His transformation skills have two flaws. One is that it's very difficult to deal with his tail:

As a result, Erlang Shen saw through it at a glance. Similarly, when he transformed into a nine-tailed fox, Zhu Bajie also noticed his tail:

This is exactly his second flaw — when transforming into a human, he can't get rid of all the hair on his body, the red buttocks, and this tail:

With these abilities, and with the blessings of the flat peaches and the immortal pills, even one hundred thousand heavenly soldiers and generals couldn't do anything to Sun Wukong.

Even in the CCTV version of Journey to the West, Sun Wukong could fight all the way to the Hall of Lingxiao, and the Jade Emperor was so scared that he hid under the table. So, many people may have a question: during the havoc in Heaven, Sun Wukong was almost invincible — why was he often unable to subdue even a small demon on the journey to fetch the scriptures?

Although Sun Wukong is very powerful, he also can't subdue the opponents. Even Wang Lingguan and the thirty-six Thunder Generals guarding the Heavenly Gate can surround a rampaging monkey in the middle and make it difficult for him to move.

The main reason why no great god in Heaven stepped forward to subdue Sun Wukong is mainly a political issue. The officials in Heaven, big and small, go to work and get off work on time. When something happens, they all have to ask for the Jade Emperor's decree. Without the decree, they don't even dare to leave their own territories. Even the True Martial Great Emperor is like this:

Moreover, quite a number of truly powerful great gods are not willing to work for Heaven. People like the Uposatha Master, Patriarch Bodhi, and the Great Immortal Zhenyuan all belong to this category.

This has led to a situation in Heaven where there are plenty of people who slack off. So much so that after Guanyin Bodhisattva came to investigate the situation, she recommended Erlang Shen — who was semi-institutional and semi-independent, answering only to summons but not to regular commands — and thus they managed to subdue Sun Wukong smoothly.

Besides the lack of a decree, there is another reason the great gods held back: it's beneath their dignity. For those great gods in Heaven, which one hasn't lived for tens of millions of years? And Sun Wukong is just a monkey over three hundred years old — in their eyes, he is like a little baby, at most like a kindergarten kid.

So, Li Jing returned to Heaven and asked the Jade Emperor for more troops. At that time, the Jade Emperor laughed:

As for other great gods, such as the Sanqing and Siyu, they are also embarrassed to lower their status and take action. For great gods, if no one asks them, it's better to do less. It would be laughable if they used their full strength to bully a little monkey.

For such great gods, naturally, they won't fight hand-to-hand with Sun Wukong. They have senior qualifications and powerful magic powers. It's beneath their status to fight like children. As for magic treasures, they are their precious possessions. Who would be willing to take them out for official business?

Of course, it's not that they won't use them. In the end, wasn't it Lord Laozi who threw the Golden Ring to capture Sun Wukong? But the gods in Heaven are upright gods. Under normal circumstances, they won't do something underhanded.

Why is Guanyin Bodhisattva not afraid to do something underhanded? It's also a matter of face. Because Guanyin Bodhisattva had already boasted in front of the Jade Emperor:

She had already made a promise. Seeing that Erlang Shen couldn't do anything to Sun Wukong, Guanyin Bodhisattva was anxious. On a small scale, it means she misjudged. On a large scale, it's a crime of deceiving the emperor.

In fact, later on the journey to fetch the scriptures, Sun Wukong often went to ask Guanyin Bodhisattva for help, and we never saw the Bodhisattva fight hand-to-hand. Most of the time, she either used tricks, like tricking the Black Bear Spirit into putting on the Golden Headband, or borrowed the power of magic treasures to trap the Red Boy.

Precisely because everyone has various concerns, the situation was at a standstill. Even if the gods caught Sun Wukong, they couldn't eliminate him, let alone catch him.

Finally, the Jade Emperor got annoyed. "You bunch of good-for-nothings. Let's just call in an outsider." Thus, he issued a decree to invite Buddha Tathagata from Lingshan.

Buddha Tathagata was also cautious. He could have come up and slapped Sun Wukong to death with one palm. But the Buddha also had to think — since there were great gods in Heaven, why was he specifically asked to come and deal with the monkey? There must be something strange. So, with the attitude of a Buddhist who doesn't kill, he earnestly persuaded Sun Wukong:

If Buddha Tathagata could make Sun Wukong retreat and submit without using weapons, that would definitely be the best strategy. The Jade Emperor would have to give him a thumbs-up.

Unfortunately, the monkey didn't listen. He still wanted to charge at the Jade Emperor's throne. Buddha Tathagata was so angry that he laughed. He asked Sun Wukong what else he could do besides the art of immortality, and yet he wanted to sit on the throne.

After hearing Sun Wukong say that he knew the 72 transformations and the somersault cloud, Buddha Tathagata came up with an idea and made a bet with him:

Sun Wukong wasn't stupid. If he really charged forward, not to mention the big monk in front of him, even Wang Lingguan behind him would be hard to deal with. But if he took this bet, if he won, he could take the Jade Emperor's throne. If he lost, he could still be a demon. It wasn't a loss:

With just a few words, Buddha Tathagata tricked Sun Wukong. How could Buddha Tathagata have the power to decide the ownership of the Jade Emperor's throne? The fact that he dared to say this means he had enough confidence to win against Sun Wukong.

So, Buddha Tathagata stretched out his hand:

When Sun Wukong saw this, he laughed. How could he not jump out of such a small palm? So, with a leap, he jumped onto the palm of Buddha Tathagata. Before anyone could react, he flew away with a somersault cloud:

That is to say, at this moment, it seemed to everyone that Sun Wukong had jumped away and was out of sight. But just because the gods couldn't see him didn't mean Buddha Tathagata couldn't. He had a pair of discerning eyes:

Then, Sun Wukong flipped to the side of five pillars. He thought he had reached the end of the sky. So, he left eight characters on one of the pillars: "The Great Sage Equaling Heaven was here." Then he flipped back with a somersault. Oh, before leaving, he deliberately urinated under the pillar in case the Buddha didn't admit it.

At this point, we return to our topic. Sun Wukong thought he had won, but then the Buddha asked him to look back. He was stunned:

Yes, why couldn't Sun Wukong jump out of the palm of Buddha Tathagata?

Some people say that the fastest thing in the world is not an airplane, not a high-speed train, nor a missile, but a child's hand. One second it's holding something obediently, and the next second it reaches out to another place with lightning speed.

That's right. Buddha Tathagata's hand is like this child's hand, with extremely fast speed. Sun Wukong was flipping somersaults in front, and behind, either Buddha Tathagata flew along with him, or he just stood still and kept making his hand bigger and his arm longer.

This answer is an explanation, but it's a bit ridiculous. Whether the Buddha flew along or stretched his hand to make it bigger, it would be beneath his dignity in front of the gods. Moreover, if Sun Wukong flew far away, the other gods couldn't see him either. Even if Buddha Tathagata used the words written by Sun Wukong as evidence, who could prove that he didn't forge the characters after seeing Sun Wukong writing on the Heavenly Pillar?

So, to convince the gods, Buddha Tathagata had to demonstrate his skills in front of the Hall of Lingxiao, allowing everyone to see with their own eyes the scene of Sun Wukong writing and urinating on his finger after flying for a while. Only in this way could he convince the crowd.

This is also the reason why, at the subsequent Assembly to Pacify Heaven, the gods lined up to give him gifts:

After all, things like getting bigger and longer can't be called boundless magic power. Even Zhu Bajie in Baoxiangguo could do this:

From this, we can rule out the possibility that Sun Wukong really flew away. That is to say, in fact, he was indeed turning around in the palm of the Buddha right under everyone's eyes.

Some people say that the Buddha wrote the character "Forbidden" in his palm in advance, and Sun Wukong just didn't notice it. Just like when Maitreya Buddha subdued the Yellow-Browed Boy back then, the boy's mind was confused, and he just followed along foolishly, thus falling into the trap.

However, there is one thing that's hard to explain. Being confused in mind doesn't mean that the somersault cloud would stop working. A confused mind doesn't affect one's ability to do somersaults either. If there were no other mysteries in the palm of Buddha Tathagata, it would still be possible for him to jump out.

Some people also say that the palm of Buddha Tathagata and Sun Wukong are not in the same dimension. It's like when we play mobile games. No matter how powerful the characters in the mobile game are, they can't jump out of the phone and come in front of you. When Sun Wukong jumped into the palm of Buddha Tathagata, it was as if he entered the Buddha's "palm console". How could a character inside the "palm console" jump out?

As mentioned before, the palm of Buddha Tathagata was as big as a lotus leaf, but Sun Wukong was able to jump onto it. This can only indicate two situations. One is that the Buddha's palm became bigger the moment Sun Wukong jumped onto it. The other possibility is that the Buddha's palm remained the same size, but Sun Wukong became smaller.

For example, an ordinary person can take a step of one meter. If he is reduced to half his size, can he still take a step of one meter? What if he is reduced ten thousand times, or even a hundred million times? How many steps would he need to take to cover this one meter? So, theoretically speaking, as long as Sun Wukong keeps getting smaller, he will only get infinitely close to the edge of the palm but will never be able to jump out.

Is there any evidence in the book to prove this inference? Yes! This move of Buddha Tathagata is actually similar to the Great Immortal Zhenyuan's "Sleeves Containing the Universe" technique:

Maitreya Buddha's Human-Seed Bag, Lord Laozi's Precious Gourd, the Golden-Winged Great Peng's Yin-Yang Two-Gas Bottle, and Guanyin Bodhisattva's Pure Jade Bottle also have the same function:

The reason why it is said that he is still within the Five Elements is that the Underworld once tried to claim his soul:

Perhaps because the Book of Life and Death was altered, the technique of the Five Elements couldn't completely suppress Sun Wukong. Later, Buddha Tathagata added the six-character mantra, "Om Mani Padme Hum".

This time, there was absolutely no way for him to escape... Alas!