oh man wow. amazing analysis. The boy has to go forward and not worry about the consequences. The monkey is clouding his mind, averting him from his goal. It's funny, I read a book where a girl had an evil monkey spirit following her around doing the exact same thing this monkey is doing to the boy in this thread. Somehow I didn't catch onto it

the kitty walks into the room and yawns...

The Monkey Mind is a popular idea in Zen Buddhism. It refers to the idea that we as humans let ourselves get distracted easily... we have a single thought, that leads to another thought, that leads to another, and then before you know it we are caught up in something else entirely and are not paying attention to the task at hand.

The boy is walking into the bush. He has his bow and arrow. He is focused on his task. He sees his target and is prepared to shoot. And then, the monkey says something to get him distracted.

The reader must not be distracted by the monkey's riddle of killing either the mother or father. This is where many people do get distracted, of course. We come in with hopes of completing a task (such as to hunt a monkey), only to let something simple distract us, and then we are overwhelmed by a whirlwind of other thoughts and emotions (are my mother and father okay? what will happen to them? should I trust the monkey or myself? etc).

The purpose of the Monkey Mind is self-management and self-awareness. One needs to become aware of the self so as to not be distracted and caught up by such events. One needs to learn how to behave "proactively", living life the way you want to, instead of "reactively", simply reacting to the actions and events around you.

the kitty yawns once again and walks out of the room...

Good one Kitty, but not really

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“A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes.”

Don't think, act.
It's not if the boy kills the monkey or not, it's if the boy does what is true to himself.

Yes! What's your tool? How will you apply it?
Yes, don't think! Yes, act! But why wuss out now? Come out with it! What's your action?
So what is your proactive action?

Heh heh. "Let go".

Mine? Or the boy's? Or the monkey's? Or the mother's? Or the father's?

Everybody must live their lives with proactive action, not reactive action. Otherwise we are at risk for Monkey Mind mentality.

Kitty,

So . . . your proactive action in this situation is to tell everybody else that they should be proactive?

R X

Your mother is dead.

Just a few thoughts before I leave this thread:

Typically, when posed with such koans in a traditional setting, the "student" will just SHUT UP, go to a quiet place, and MEDITATE on the koan. I am betting that nobody here did this. Why is this important? It's important to let go of your ego. It's important to let go of others' perspective. It's important to let go of our perspective . . . then you can come to an understanding based on the question itself. NOTHING ELSE.

When you begin to answer with "I know this." . . . "This reminds me of." . . . "This could be.", you've already become the monkey mind. You've already begun the race of the minds . . .

The monkey is just a funny story. . . but it's a serious one. Your mother's death is at risk. Your father's death is at risk. This is no ordinary distraction. Some of you seem to have a difficult time grasping the idea of a monkey shooting the shit with some boy with a bow and arrow so allow me to rephrase the same situation. See . . it really has nothing to do with a fucking monkey:

You are in the middle of a 6 lane road and you hear somebody scream. You look up and it's a policeman. He goes, "If you move, the ice cream truck will hit you! But if you don't move, the cargo truck will whack you!"

Same, same, same . . .

Want to just let this one go?
Want to advise the policeman to act proactively?

No.

You don't even know the monkey mind mentality...

Everybody knows monkey mind mentality.

Okay, my take on this.

The child went to hunt. He had an objective to bring in a kill. The monkey gives him information, but its from a monkey, which is the 'monkey mind'. He should carry out his objective and kill the monkey, since the 'monkey mind' doesn't exsist. It's ego.

The glare of the sun hits Royalty's eyes, and as it does his finger tightens on the trigger. The gun goes off and kills the Algerian... I mean monkey. ;p (a nod to Camus)

If you want to be serious, we're all monkey minds on this forum. If you want a real answer, I'll get off the computer and try to live mindfully in real life.

kasabi: if an accident is about to occur, my senses will give me the information I need to react. Since the policeman's words are not my best source of information, my brain will filter them out and not process them. The monkey's words are irrelevant to the boy. The monkey stands still long enough to start talking. The boy takes that opportunity to finish his hunt. The end.

kitty: reactive action does serve a purpose, as well. If you're talking about being present, you can take in feedback and alter your course instantly to better your outcome. The key is action (proactive or not) and not analyzation (which, of course is what we do here lol)

Interesting thread, guys.

P.S. The Game

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Live Your Truth.

Yes and no, as far as I'm concerned Kasabi is the only person who actually gets this whole thread fully. Jav, Hobbit, JR have a understanding @ most.

The boy went out with intent. When he came upon the object of his intent, he was given options. Neither of the two options had favorable outcomes, but regardless of the outcomes the boy must act and deal with the consequences as they come.

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"If you're not living life on the edge, then you're taking up too much space."