Threshold: Point of letting go,
At the beginning of the story, Monkey was willing to accompany Tripitaka and he did so in a cheerful manner because he was happy that he is finally freed from five hundred years of solitude. Nevertheless, very soon after the two departs on their journey he found differences in their ideology and methods of dealing with dilemmas. Upon being scolded by Tripitaka, Monkey immediately gave up and ran off like a problematic child. “The one thing Monkey had never been able to bear was to be scolded, and when Tripitaka began to lecture him like this, he flared up at once and cried, ‘All right! I’ll give up being a priest and won’t go with you to India. You needn’t go on at me any more. I’m off!’” This shows his limited threshold toward the occurrence of different opinions within a group, which is understandable since he has only experienced being a leader before embarking on this journey. However, after being tricked back onto the journey by Kuan-yin and made to wear the metal band which, in a way, restricts him from running wild and not following Tripitaka’s instructions, Monkey’s progress on enlarging his threshold and corporation level is surely to be noted. Although having the metal band on, Monkey learned to act as a member of the group and slowly took ownership of Tripitaka’s goal without showing any sign of being forced at all times. At many different points throughout the journey when Tripitaka was hopeless and willing to give up without trying, Monkey even encouraged him and helped him out of despair when he would have turned a blind eye and let Tripitaka fail. For example, when Tripitaka’s horse was eaten and he started crying, Monkey became angry at his weak will, “‘Don’t make such an object of yourself,’ shouted Monkey, infuriated by this exhibition of despair. ‘Just sit here, while I go and look for the wretch and make him give us back the horse.’ ”
Chi Z.
I agree with Chi, in the beginning of the story Monkey was were ruthless and showed no mercy, neither to the tiger nor towards the bandits who came forth and tried to steal Tripitaka’s belongings. He killed them with ease and without remorse; while Tripitaka explained he would have spared the men. Monkey disagreeing with Tripitaka’s point of view left out of anger, but later on in the story you can see the change in Monkey’s behavior for the better; as Chi pointed out.
Stage: Trials: Facing New Challenges
When Tripitaka was first introduced to us he had already begun his journey to look for Scriptures from Inida. It was a journey for him and Monkey none the less, but for Tripitaka it wasn’t something he was used to. We can see that when Monkey and Tripitaka started their journey they immediately faced an obstacle; the tiger. “Tripitaka was terrified, but Monkey seemed delighted.” Monkey was used to danger as seen from his reaction, but Tripitaka was new to such danger so he didn’t know how to react and let Monkey take care of the tiger only because he said he could. Impressed by Monkey’s skills I feel that Tripitaka was than at ease and less worried now because of Monkey and felt he could go through his journey with less fear. But as they continued the two faced more and more challenges worse than the ones prior. The more challenges they faced the stronger Tripitaka became in his ability to face challenges, for example. When he saw the man in his dream he didn’t fear the man instead Tripitaka spoke with confidence and stoof his ground; “What can you be but a hobgoblin, evil spirit, monster or foul bogey that you should come to this place and molest me in the middle of the night?” Tripitaka wasn’t scared when he saw the man, but instead faced him; if he were to see this dream in the beginning of his journey before meeting Monkey or Pigsy who’s to say he wouldn’t have been too frightened to say anything to the man in the dream? All the challenges Tripitaka faced had helped him in a way that made it easier for him to face the newer challenges.
~Myra Khan
Helpers/Meeting the Mentors
In the next part of the story, it begins with Monkey being trapped under a rock that says “OM MANI PADME HUM”. Which explained by Professor Jeane on Tuesday, it means “The Jewel is in the Lotus”. This might point out to Tripitaka, who meets Monkey under the rock, that this is his missing piece to continue on his journey. Soon after we see that Tripitaka meets his disciple, his helper for the journey, and Monkey meets his mentor. The first time in the story that we begin to see Tripitaka mentoring Monkey would be during the incident when they encounter robbers. Monkey took matters into his own hands and killed the robbers and Tripitaka replies with “One has no right to kill robbers, however violent and wicked they may be.” I believe Tripitaka told this to Monkey, because the first time they encountered danger on their path with a tiger, the tiger was going to attack them. However, during this encounter with the robbers, Monkey scared them off, there was no need to kill them, but if the robbers went in to attack them, I think the story would have been written a little differently. Another example would be as what Chi mentioned above, when Tripitaka gets Monkey to wear a metal headband around his forehead that prevents him from running wild. This gesture from Tripitaka as the mentor provides Monkey with a learning experience and a growth of patience and obedience, so that Monkey in turn can be a better help for the journey.
-Diana Rodriguez