Monkey’s Wisdom

“But he found the men of the world all engrossed in the quest for profit and fame.”

Friday evenings on the telly when I was young was ‘Harold Lloyd’, followed by ‘Monkey’. I was initially watching on a little black and white TV [with a dial to change channels, for those who remember such things!].

Then we got a colour TV.

It made no difference to Harold - he was still in black and white. But I can still vividly remember watching Monkey in colour for the first time - 6 year old me couldn’t quite believe his eyes…

Recently, I finally got around to reading Journey to the West, an adaptation of the original stories which were written down in the 16th century CE. Turns out Tripitaka was a real person from the 7th century CE [although he probably wasn’t accompanied by a river demon, a pig monster, a dragon disguised as a horse, and an immortal trickster who could travel on clouds!].

On one level, the stories are thinly disguised satire, mocking the bureaucrats and government of that time. They are shown to be incompetent, petty, selfish - and obsessed with status. [Some things never change].

Against that, each of the main characters undergoes a series of trials and tests on a journey towards greater understanding and ultimately, transformation.

Perhaps most importantly, for Tripitaka, Monkey, Pigsy and Sandy, enlightenment is only achieved when they work together.

NB The quote I started with is from the book. I just rewatched the opening credits, and this jumped out at me:

“And Tathagata Buddha said, ‘with our thoughts, we make the world.’”