(WARNING SUPERLONG POST DETECTED. TL;DR)

Argggh I'm too damn stubborn to stop it. I hate it when I can't solve puzzles, I just can't stop thinking about them. But this is getting so ridicolous.

Here are my last thought processes:

Actually... the post of mine I've thought was the closest was this:

"I shoot the monkey and save my father"

This idea was my very last attempt. I had no other idea. It does see things from different views because I don't concentrate on killing my mother rather saving my dad. I really thought this was the solution because I also "took the act" but now I really start thinking that the whole solution has nothing to do... well...with the following list:

#1 shooting or not shooting
#2 the monkey
#3 the boy

So the only things that are left:

#1 Me(I'm not putting myself as #1 on purpose or as showing egocentricity this is just supposed to be a list)
#2 My parents
#3 My love to my parents and their love to me

So the only thing to do which would make any sense whatsoever in conclusion is just to say :"I love my parents"

Now let's go further. I say(and realise) this, and then are they saved? Not at all. So it shouldn't matter whether they're saved or not? I think if I love my parents I definitely want to save them somehow. Oops dead end. (or not?)

Okay... back to the beginning. I know I need to act, I know I love my parents, and all I need to do is to do something particular that doesn't involve the monkey to save them.

What do my guts tell me? They tell me I'm pissed. I'm pissed because my parents are about to be killed and I'm also pissed because I can't solve this koan. Which is ironically the exact same thing.

So what should I do? What do I do when the people for whom I feel unconditional love are in the danger of dying? I need to protect them. Still no idea how.

What if the answer does have to do something with the monkey? Should I ask it whether it wants to live or die? Would it change anything besides giving the responsibility away? Not really... One of my parents are now dead and the monkey either lives or not.

The interesting thing with this monkey is that it is in kind of a similar situation than me. I'm standing there pointing my arrow at it and it's just standing there waiting for me to decide over its life. It will be either killed or not, so it does have a chance, but I don't seem to have a chance for saving both of my parents. Does this mean we're not exactly in the same boat? Or does that mean that there's a solution where me, the monkey, and my parents will all live happily?

How about questionning just EVERYTHING? The monkey may be telling his truth, but is his concept of death the same as mine? Could the monkey mean that my parents would be dead and mean it when they were totally safe from human perspective all the way? But what else concept can exist that would actually save my parents? I think this one is really a dead end...

Let's take a look at your stories then. I understand the concept of heaven and hell what you're writing. How could I not? That one is obvious. You don't need to disregard logic and thinking at that problem, but from your hints at this case you do have to. The most interesting hint all of you have given is "drop your ego" but how could that save my parents? Let's take it deeper again...

In the case of heaven and hell, a simple act of ingenius and unselfishness saved an entire community. What is the most unselfish act I can do in the case of the monkey? I could tell the monkey to take me instead of my parents but is that really unselfish? It's just SPAM the responsibility again, and besides my parents would be much happier being dead than seeing me dead. And that's a fact even if it works vice-versa.

So just what do I do then? My thoughts are really jumping around like a monkey on a tree, but I don't feel like I've gotten any closer to the solution. And of course I haven't. That should be the purpose of this koan, to not jump around just ACT. But how could I, when my parents' life are at stake? Isn't it natural to count every single possibility?

It certainly is. In our culture it is. Unfortunately...these koans were not written for our thinking pattern. That's why they are so hard. We just see images of things when we're thinking. But that's really not the true nature of the things. So the only question that is left...

Do I solve this koan by learning a new way of thinking, or do I learn a new way of thinking by solving this koan?

_________________
What I like in life is nothing more but living it.

After the monkey gives that line, the reason the boy hunts is for a totally different reason. Originally the boy went hunting for food, but with what the monkey said, the boys reason for killing the monkey changes to, which of my parents should live.

im starting to think that the mother and father figure that the monkey is talking about, doesn't necessarily represent HIS mother/father...

But hell, i'm just as frustrated about this answer as Breaking Bad is!

Haha funny. 2 words and says so much. But from what else perspective can this be seen? From the parents' perspective? Or the monkey's? Or even more general? Have to think about this before I make another pointless long-as-shit post haha.

_________________
What I like in life is nothing more but living it.

No.

OK . . . Now what?

oh so you're no longer frustrated at all? good to hear

share how you came to this

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I'ma be what I set out to be, without a doubt undoubtedly, and all those who look down on me I'm tearin down your balcony, no if ands or buts, don't try to ask him why or how can he

Well, i actually came to a conclusion about this, and it really came to me after i asked a friend this riddle, and saw what he had to answer.

It was funny to see him go through the same steps that i did, and what i noticed was that, most people try to solve this by logic, "why's the monkey talking, your parents will die anyways kill it/don't kill it" etc.

Once you start to exhaust that way of thinking, you'll start to notice different things, and actually take the story for what it is, rather then what you make of it.

I still think this is an ongoing process, throughout this riddle i constantly found myself feeling that click of "i found it", and found myself doubting what i just came up with minutes later. I defiantly feel though that i do have a better understanding of it though!

OK . . . so now what?

Okay... that's it. I'm too narrow minded for this. All my life I've been hardwired to think with logic, and to think with self-awareness. A damn koan can't force me out of this no matter how hard I try... In the end I'll always end up thinking about something logical, or something that's somehow related to my ego. Most of the time both.

_________________
What I like in life is nothing more but living it.

Is acting upon guesses and assumptions 'logical'?

Is ignoring your environment and moment to moment situations 'self aware'?

1) You're right... But I can't seem to find any other path than trying to connect an act with a possible outcome. And that's a logical point of view.

2) I don't ignore it. Or at least... I think I don't. Maybe this word...self aware was not the best choice. I wanted to point out that it is virtually impossible for me to think about this situation in a way that does not involve my ego. I will summerize my main problem with this koan like this:

You've told me to drop my ego. Now I ask...HOW? I just have no clue. I don't even fully understand what does "dropping my ego" mean.

_________________
What I like in life is nothing more but living it.

Meditate.

Now nothing.

If you don't mind your father dying, why bother fooling around with the monkey in the first place? Just go home and kill your father and save everybody the trouble.

I'm not trying to be annoying here. But do you believe me if I say that I've been unable to meditate? Certain circumstances make it really hard. Any time I relax, the integrated mp3 player in my brain starts and it's nearly impossible to shut it. Also...my thoughts are very easily distracted, even in a completely silent and empty room. If I have to do calculus, or think about something in the way I'm used to it, I have no problem concentrating but this is so much different, that I've not been able to put all my focus on just the problem of the monkey-boy yet. At least...not long enough to figure it out.

If things continue like this I'll really have to give up. I'm such a modern jerk that I can't even meditate.

_________________
What I like in life is nothing more but living it.