great works ii – 2850 jta 12:25-2:05: love letters from the world

Nicole:

Monkey seemed to be on the verge of reaching his bliss when he is on his adventure to reach his goals. His realization of his true self peeks through as he is on his journey with the other monkeys on page 11. He describes the difference between two languages and about how birds and beasts have their own separate language. “Birds have their own language; beasts have their beasts talk.” This can be interpreted as monkey comparing his motivation to the motivation of others. It seems that throughout the story monkey is always willing to take risks and go on adventures for what he truly wants, and at this point in the story, he seems determined to keep going until he is satisfied and reaches his bliss. The story then goes on to further explain how monkey tries to be a leader to the other monkeys by motivating them as a group to continue this adventure.  ‘“we none of us know where this stream comes from. As we have nothing to do this morning, wouldn’t it be fun to follow it up to its source?” with a loop of joy, dragging their sons and carrying their daughters, calling out to younger brother and to elder brother, the whole troupe rushed along the streamside and scrambled up the steep places, till they reached the source of the stream. They found themselves standing before the curtain of a great waterfall.’ This is a source of bliss for monkey. The waterfall can symbolize his accomplishment of meeting a new obstacle or something greater than what has already achieved.

Maria:

Nicole, I completely agree with you that through those quotes he is always willing to stay on his journey to enlightenment and bliss. He seems to be very eager and determined to keep on going as well as inspire others to go along with him. I do think this will change as he encounters obstacles and challenges along his way.

Monkey appropriately fits into the Heroic Journey model because after setting on his journey to find enlightenment he hits a rough patch with his companion Tripitaka. The stage Threshold: Point of letting go refers to the moment of one’s heroic journey in which the person comes close to giving up. In the text, Monkey had a setback in his journey when he killed the robbers who had stopped him and Tripitaka. Tripitaka was furious with Monkey that he had gone about his old ways and told Monkey he could not go with him to India. Monkey was at the Point of Letting Go when he says “All right! I’ll give up being a priest, and won’t go with you to India. You needn’t go on at me anymore. I’m off!”. Monkey is comfortable and used to being a king, so much that when Tripitaka yelled at him, Monkey could not take the critique. This put him very close to the edge of letting go of the journey he is on. If Monkey can give up that easily, it makes me wonder how serious he is about the journey he is on and what will happen when he faces more serious challenges.

Later on in the text, Monkey gets close to giving up on his journey when he  encounters a dragon that swallowed one of the horses. Monkey says to Bodhisattva, “…But if we are going to have encounters like this all the time, I shall have hard work keeping alive at all, let alone any thought of achieving salvation. I’m not going on!” Monkey is getting overwhelmed by all the unexpected encounters he has and if considering if the journey is worth it. I do not think Monkey realized how difficult the journey, as it is not only a physically effortful journey but also requires a lot of mental strength.

Tara:

Maria your perspective is very interesting because Monkey does seem to give up quite often, and he becomes agitated with Tripitaka easily. Monkey loses his patience and it does seem as if he is close to letting go when criticized by Tripitaka. I do feel that throughout the journey he will attempt to accept other people’s critiques and even accepts help from others and certain points. Tripitaka experiences call to adventure during his heroic journey shortly after he and Monkey began their journey. After Monkey became angry with Tripitaka for scolding him when he killed the robbers, Monkey ran away. During this time Tripitaka came across an elderly lady. Just when he was set on traveling to India alone without a disciple, she convinced him otherwise. On page 21 the women states “ You surely don’t expect to get there with only one horse and no disciple to wait upon you?”. In this statement she is persuading Tripitaka to rethink his decision to travel on his own. She then fully persuades Tripitaka when she offers to find Monkey and states “I’ll go look for him and send him back to you. Make him wear this cap and coat. If he disobeys you, say the spell, he’ll give no more trouble and never dare to leave you.”(22). The women convinced Tripitaka that this journey would not be possible without Monkey, and by giving him the cap and coat she gave Tripitaka control over Monkey. Although Monkey and Tripitaka began their adventure before this incident, once Tripitaka was giving the opportunity to have control over Monkey; that was his true call to adventure.