The Buddha's Wager

Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, had wreaked havoc across the Celestial Realm, defeating the Jade Emperor's finest generals and declaring himself 'Great Sage Equal to Heaven.' To restore order, the Buddha intervened and proposed a wager: if the Monkey King could leap out of his right palm, he would be granted the throne of Heaven; if he failed, he would return to Earth to repent. Confident in his ability to travel 108,000 li in a single somersault, the Monkey King laughed and accepted. He soared through the cosmos until he reached five towering pink pillars at the edge of the universe. To mark his victory, he wrote his name on the middle pillar and left a crude sign of his presence. Returning to the Buddha, he demanded the throne. However, the Buddha opened his hand, showing the Monkey King that he had never left his palm. The 'pillars' were merely the Buddha's fingers, and the writing was on his middle finger. Realizing he was trapped by his own arrogance, the Monkey King tried to flee, but the Buddha turned his hand into the Five Elements Mountain, pinning the monkey beneath it for five hundred years.