The Eight-Trigram Furnace is the divine furnace used by Taishang Laojun for alchemy and magical refinement, and it plays one of the most memorable roles in Sun Wukong’s rebellion in Journey to the West.
After Sun Wukong steals immortal peaches, heavenly wine, and Taishang Laojun’s elixir pills, Heaven finally manages to capture him. Blades, axes, thunder, and fire all fail to destroy the Monkey King, so the Jade Emperor turns him over to Taishang Laojun.
The old master places Sun Wukong inside the Eight-Trigram Furnace, intending to refine him completely in its supernatural flames. Sun Wukong, however, finds a position within the furnace where he can endure the fire and survives for forty-nine days.
When the furnace is finally opened, everyone expects to find nothing but ashes. Instead, Sun Wukong bursts out alive. Far from being destroyed, he emerges with the Fiery Golden Eyes, a transformed sight capable of seeing through many supernatural disguises.
Sun Wukong then overturns the furnace and storms out to continue his havoc in Heaven. Fire from the overturned furnace later falls into the mortal world and becomes connected with the origin of the Flaming Mountains.
The furnace is therefore one of the great ironic treasures of the Monkey King’s legend. It is meant to destroy him, yet the ordeal makes him even more formidable, while the overturned furnace leaves behind another legendary consequence that will confront him years later on the road to the West.
