#005 Monkey's Thought

On one Vesak day in a temple in Sri Lanka- that day there were so many visitors to the temple- one monkey came to the temple from the jungle, finding something to eat. As there were so many people, there must be one amongst them that dropped something, and the monkeys are so agile in taking mango or banana and ate it for free.

So whenever there is a ceremony, the monkeys always go to the temple. One of these monkeys came to the temple and saw a monk is giving a speech. Then he heard the monk saying “monkey’s thought”

“Monkey’s thought? This is interesting. This monk is giving speech about me.”

He went to the window to listen. However, he heard what the monk said about monkey’s thought: that monkey’s thought is bad, ugly, must be eliminated; that if you have monkey’s thought you are not a meditator and you have to train more until your spiritual become good.

When the monkey heard that monkey’s thought is something bad, he became furious. Monkey also had feelings. He said,” this monk! He is harassing me! He said monkey’s thought is bad! What’s wrong having monkey’s thought? Monkeys are born with such thing! So why are humans trying to get rid of monkey’s thought? I like monkey’s thought. I will give complaint of destroying monkey’s reputation.”

This monkey went back to the jungle, met the monkey leader and complained,” Boss, you should hear what the monks were talking about us at the temple! He said monkey’s thought is bad, evil and lousy. Monkey’s thought has to be eliminated! He is looking down on us, he is insulting us.”

Then the other monkeys were also angry after listening. “We will not just let them escape from this! This cannot be allowed! We will protest to the commission of right, international amnesty, and world wildlife fund.” Then they started jumping, angry, until the monkey leader stopped them.

The monkey leader shouted,”Stop! Look at you jumping wildly here and there! The monk is right! That is the monkey’s thought! Jumping around, complaining every time, can’t sit still!”

All the monkeys were wise enough to understand that. They said, “ oh my! Boss is right. Monkey’s thought is bad indeed.” Then they became gloomy. “What can we do? We are born with Monkey’s thought. How do we get rid of monkey’s thought?”

Then one of the monkey said,”Listen! I went to that temple before. I have seen the way those people get rid of monkey’s thought through meditation. As monkeys, we also have to meditate. By doing that our spirits will be peaceful and when people look at us, they also want to have peaceful monkey’s thought. Let’s meditate!”

All monkeys are jumping happily again,”Yes! Let’s meditate! Let’s all meditate!” The monkey leader shouted,”All silence! That’s monkey’s thought again! Then how do we meditate?”

The monkey just now said again,” It’s very easy. I have seen the monks did it. Put your right leg on top of your left one. Your right palm above your left palm, straight back, head a bit facing downward. I don’t know what they did next, but they sat there for a long time.”

The monkeys also saw the monks sitting on a small pillow, then they went to the jungle to gather leaves and grasses, then they made a pillow for themselves. Then all of them sat on top and that was the first time monkey meditated.

Then they put the right leg above the left one, right palm on the left palm, straight back, head facing downward a bit, and they started meditating. The jungle had never been so silent. After a minute…

Suddenly, a monkey raised its hand,” Excuse me! Sorry! I just thought of this! This morning we are planning to go to the banana plantation to steal bananas for lunch. I can’t get rid of the thought; the thought is always bothering me. So this is my plan: let’s go to the plantation first, steal the bananas, after finishing the task then we don’t have to think about it anymore.”

The monkeys exclaimed,” Let’s finish the task first, I thought about it also!”

They all rose from their seats, jumping and swinging to the banana plantation, stole as many bananas, and brought them back to the jungle. That time was not the lunch time yet, they decided to stole the bananas but didn’t eat the bananas until the time. They gather the bananas in a big pile and went back to the seats.

They started meditating again. The jungle became silent once more. This time only 30 seconds.

“Interruption! Interruption!” said one of the monkey,”I just thought before we can eat the bananas, we have to peel the bananas first. Can we finish this task first? We are not going to eat it, we will just peel it!”

All the monkeys agreed “Let’s go! I have been thinking about it too. Let’s peel them!”

They started peeling the bananas; they didn’t eat the bananas, because it was still not the time for lunch. They piled the bananas into a big pile.

They then started the meditation again.

Just as they were closing their eyes. “ Permission! I have an idea! Before eating the bananas we have to put them inside our mouths. Let’s put them into our mouth. Finishing this task, then we can meditate.”

“Yeah, a good idea!” Said other monkeys. So each of them went to take the bananas, some of them took 2 to 3 bananas- you know how greedy the monkeys are. Then they put the bananas inside their mouths, but they didn’t eat it yet.

The went back to the pillow and started to medit…. Can they really meditate with the bananas was stuffed inside their mouth? Of course not! When the monkeys closed their eyes, they all started to munch the bananas!

That is monkey’s thought! “Let’s finish this matter first then I can meditate!” or “Let’s finish the tasks first then I can be better!” or “Let’s earn one million in the bank account first then we can donate!”

Of course it is not like that! If we have to do anything first, it will never end right? What is important in the story is meditate, not lunch. Look, what is more important? Getting more money or enjoying life? So what is more important: finishing jobs before weekend or relaxing and spending time with family?

What are the most important things in life? You should know yourself. Spending time with your partner in a relationship, or spending time with your children, taking care of your health so that you are not so stressed, becoming wise, becoming generous, your spiritual life, those what are important. Everything else is only on the second place.

If you really know how to prioritize things: kindness, peace, love, generosity, then other things will be the follow next. You will not be like a monkey that only swing from one root of matters to another root of matters, without ever able to find true happiness and peace in your life.

-FIN-
Read the Indonesian translation  HERE

Author: Ajahn Brahm

Translated by (for this blog): Anfransen wijaya 

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