Son goku bedeutung

It is true within the relevant context of the monkey character we're referring to, and it's why I said, "Here's the short version."

But fair enough. I made a jump in logic and skipped a detail regarding the radical because this subject can get complicated, and I was trying to keep it easy to understand. If you want to read the logic behind where "Monkey Grandchild Aware of Emptiness" comes from, then here's an excerpt from page 355 of my book. It follows Monkey's acceptance into discipleship and analyzes the moment he receives his name:

"Buddhist Name
When a practitioner becomes accepted by the master of a Buddhist school they will be given a dhármanāma (Sanskrit: धर्मनाम, Chinese: fahào, 法號, Japanese: hōgō, “Buddhā Law name”). A dhármanāma is a Buddhist name given to an ordained monk or nun to replace their previous name given by their parents. Their former identity and self no longer exist, all worldly roots are severed, and they will henceforth only respond to their dhármanāma. The monkey has no parents and no worldly roots to sever, so this is his first actual name and it’s loaded with spiritual symbolism.

Xīyóujì is a Chinese story, so it follows Chinese naming conventions where a name consists of three parts: a surname of one hànzì followed by a given name of two hànzì.

[footnote 12. Sūn Wùkōng lacking a name and parents is similar to Son Gokū’s origin in Dragon Ball. In both cases their names are given to them by ascetic masters who serve as adoptive fathers.]

Aware of Emptiness
Monkey prostrates himself before the master and expresses his eagerness. Xūpútí says, “Well, it seems you have been created by heaven and earth… Though your features are not the most attractive, you do resemble a monkey that feeds on pine seeds. I intended to call you by the name of hú (猢, “macaque,” a type of “monkey” similar to the gibbon).13 Now, when the accompanying radical (on the left, modified as quǎn, 犬, “animal,” or “dog,” implying a “four-legged creature”) is dropped from this word, what’s left is a compound made up of the two characters of gǔ (古, “aged”) and yuè (月, “moon,” but figuratively, “woman”). However, an aged female cannot reproduce. Therefore, it is better to give you the surname of sūn (猻, “monkey”). When the accompanying animal radical is dropped from this word, we have the compound of zi (子, “boy,” or “child”) and xì (系, “lineage,” or “baby”), so that the name exactly accords with the “Doctrine of the Baby.” So your surname will be Sūn (孫, “lineage,” “descendant,” or “grandchild”).” The Měihóu-wáng cries with joy, “Splendid! Splendid! At last I know my surname.”

The full word for the macaque (or monkey) in western China is húsūn (猢猻), so instead of using the first hànzì, Xūpútí uses the second and then changes sūn (猻, “monkey”) to sūn (孫, “grandchild”) by following the above logic. Given that our main character is an actual monkey and is given the surname of sūn, it implies the meaning of “monkey grandchild.” Likewise the inherited lineage of the monkey lore established in India and China.

[footnote 13. Sūn Wùkōng is a macaque, but his Dàoist heritage connects him to the gibbon, and for all intents and purposes he is regarded as a monkey. These are three separate yet similar animals with their own cultural histories that get fused together into one being.]

Sūn is also a surname given to someone when they don’t have a more meaningful one, like a name without being a name, or like saying you’re just the grandchild of someone else. In this case the emphasis is on the wordplay and symbolism between him being a monkey and joining Xūpútí’s family as one of his disciples, to become Xūpútí’s figurative grandchild along with his other disciples.

You can see from this example how Chinese literati interpret the etymology of their language, with each radical of a hànzì having its own meaning, history, and contextual effect on the others it’s combined with. This isn’t how all of the hànzì are created in antiquity, but it is often how they are interpreted afterward.

Sūn is delighted with his surname, but also requests that Xūpútí honor him with a given name. Xūpútí says that he uses 12 different hànzì to name his disciples according to their division. He tells Sūn that he will belong to the 10th division of disciples and will therefore have the hànzì of wù (悟, “awareness,” “comprehension,” to “realize,” “apprehend,” or “enlighten”).

His distinct hànzì will be kōng (空, “emptiness,” “hollowness,” “bare,” “deserted,” or “void”).

So wùkōng (悟空) means “aware of emptiness,” “apprehension of void,” or “awake to vacuity.”

Altogether, Sūn Wùkōng (孫悟空) means the “Monkey Grandchild Aware of Emptiness.”"

To summarize the above excerpt: The sage gives him this name because he's an actual monkey, and the scholars and literati who contributed to Journey to the West over hundreds of years were making a monkey-based pun. The radical for 'monkey' is removed, but by the character's inherent nature it remains implied. And it wasn't removed just because it 'resembled' the other character, but because the master was originally going to name him 'Monkey,' but as he explains earlier in the story, he feels that only human beings can cultivate their essence, and animals could not succeed at it, so by the act of giving him this name (which removes the 'monkey / animal' radical) he is making him more human. In a symbolic fashion the master is giving him a human name that follows Chinese naming conventions. Thus through this discipleship / naming process it's like the Monkey King is being born again as a grandson of the master.

-- To go even further meta, a lot of this conversation in Journey to the West is reflective of conversations between patriarchs of Zen Buddhism, where one master was arguing that only Chinese people could cultivate, while a young disciple argued that any human could cultivate, even a hairy barbarian such as himself. Then this so-called 'barbarian' stunned the master with his profound understanding of emptiness, and he agreed to teach him.

In Dragon Ball's Son Goku, this monkey nature isn't as pronounced, so one might argue that his name doesn't mean the same thing, but I think that's a groundless argument since Toriyama based Son Goku on the same character and the same story, drew the initial concept art for his version of the character just like Sun Wukong appears in Journey to the West, and uses the exact same name. This was Toriyama and Torishima-san's intention. Granted that the final version of Son Goku might not look the same as Sun Wukong, but he still inherited that culture.

I think it's important to distinguish between 'emptiness' and 'nothingness' because these two words are respectively associated with Buddhism or Daoism. When you use the word nothingness it implies a Daoist connection, but Sun Wukong travels with a Buddhist monk and attains enlightenment to become "The Buddha Victorious in Strife." This is what the story is about, and his name has a lot to do with personality and insights into the true matter of things and situations during the story (such as demonic illusions), so I think "Aware of Emptiness" is a more fitting translation. In the West we don't casually make much a of a distinction between emptiness and nothingness, but I was taught in school that scholars do make the distinction, and use each word with that difference in mind.

I agree with everything else you said. I likewise argue (in Dragon Ball Culture Volume 4) that this is why Son Gohan exists as Goku's adoptive grandfather. And it's retroactive recursive naming scheme, where Son Gohan only has his name of Son Gohan because Son Goku is named after Sun Wukong, who is the grandchild of Subodhi, who in turn makes Son Goku the grandchild of Son Gohan. It's one of the many ways Toriyama connects Dragon Ball to the source material and then never explains it to his audience. It only clicks in your mind if you're familiar with the source.

So anyway... That's what Son Goku means.

Whether or not you think Goku's name is relevant to his personality or actions throughout the story comes down to subjective opinion, and I think it is relevant, especially in how quickly he enlightens to the martial arts lessons, just as Sun Wukong enlightened to the Buddha Law and Dao--as a Toriyama-style reversal of physical versus intellectual. But the parallels between the two characters is a whole 'nother topic!

Was bedeutet der Name Son Goku?

Warum nennt man Son Goku Kakarot?

Ist Son Goku ein Mensch?

Ist Son Goku ein Gott?