Few scholars have attempted to analyze the treasure’s history. Since Sun Wukong is a personification of the Buddhist concept of the “ Monkey of the Mind” ( xinyuan, 心猿), or the disquieted mind that bars humanity from enlightenment, the fillet serves as a not so subtle reminder of Buddhist restraint. The circlet is a heaven-sent magic treasure designed to reign in the immortal’s unruly, rebellious nature. Sun first earns the headband as punishment for killing six thieves shortly after being released from his five hundred-year-long imprisonment. Another still is a simple band devoid of decoration (type three) (fig. A different version is a single band adorned with an upturned crescent shape in the center (type two) (fig. It is generally portrayed as a ringlet of gold with blunt ends that meet in the middle of the forehead and curl upwards like scowling eyebrows (type one) (fig. jingu, 緊箍, lit: “tight fillet”) is one of the Monkey King’s most recognizable iconographic elements appearing in visual media based on the great Chinese classic Journey to the West ( Xiyouji, 西遊記, 1592 CE). The golden headband or fillet ( jingu, 金箍 a.k.a.
