Page 4 - Jan - March 2021

monkey mind
MONKEY MYTHOLOGY In Buddhist meditation practice,
it is said to control the ‘monkey
mind‛ fi rst to successfully
M l d ii li i d i
Monkeys are also revered in many religions, and sometimes are k
g
associated with mischief and greed. Read on... meditate. Here monkey mind
refers to a restless mind.
BUDDHISM
In Buddhism, there are CHRISTIANITY
several references made to In Christianity, monkeys are said to represent greed.
monkeys. They’re known There is a very famous painting of Jesus and Mother
as ‘kapi’ or the Sanskrit Mary, with a chained monkey sitting at the bottom. This
term for monkeys. Several is supposed to be symbolic, to represent the mother’s
Jataka stories are based virtue as greed sits in a chain – tamed.
on monkeys such as the
Mahakapi Jataka. It is
believed that Lord Buddha ANCIENT EGYPT
was born eighteen times
as a monkey. In some sculptures, such as in Bharhut, In Ancient Egypt, monkeys were an
important part of their culture. They
monkeys are seen making off erings to the Buddha.
were kept as pets and in fact the Theban
Musarrat Islam, Class 8, Vanita Public School, Varanasi; Reshmi A. S.,
Class 7B, Bhavan’s Adarsha Vidyalaya, Kakkanad, Kochi; Parminder Jit Queen Makare, was buried with her
Kaur, PKR Jain Sr. Sec. Public School, Ambala; Sanjana Singh, Class 9, favourite female Green Monkey. They
Raksha Anusandhan Vidyalaya, Dehradun; Parishi Jain, Class 8B, Neerja
Modi School, Jaipur; D. Rachana, Class 8, Army Public School, Bolarum, were also worshipped as deities such
Secunderabad as Babi - a Baboon god who is known
JAINISM to consume parts of the dead.

In the Jaina tradition, Vanaras were a warrior tribe which
had monkeys as their emblem. Abhinandananatha, the ACTIVITY: THREE WISE
fourth Tîrthankara, is represented through the symbol of
monkey on the pedestal. MONKEYS
Bhumi Sharma, Delhi Public School, Sonepat The three wise monkeys are from Japan embodying the
proverbial principle ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no
CHINESE MYTHOLOGY evil’. These were then used by Gandhiji for his message of

In Chinese mythology Sun Wukong is the Monkey peace and tolerance.
God. He has divine power and can transform into 72 S. Rasigha, Class 9, Morning Star Matriculation School, Thanjavur; Anay
types of animals. He is mentioned in the novel ‘Journey Darsh, Class 3D, Global Indian International School, Whitefi eld, Bangalore;
M. Medhashri, Class 8, Navy Children School, Goa; Avni Moudgil, Class 10,
to the West' produced in the era of the Song dynasty Learning Paths School, Chandigarh
which tells the story of a Buddhist Monk, Tang Sanzang
who travels from South China to India to obtain holy Try and design a team game
based on the three wise
scriptures to teach people.
monkeys, taking each
Aditya V. Alur, Class 6C, Delhi Public School, Miyapur
child as any one of the
BALI’S SACRED FOREST three.
The Sacred Monkey Forest in Bali contains a large DOer - blindfolded
population of crab-eating macaques, who live among SPEAKer - can talk but
temples that commemorate the Hindu principle of Tri cannot see
Hata Karan. SEEer-can view but cannot talk

Select any tree in your school, the SEEer should describe it
with gestures to the SPEAKer. The SPEAKer tells the DOer
how it looks and the DOer locates it. Then sit together
refl ect on the activity.

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