No monkey business.
The circus.
Ox sculpture Wat Pho Bangkok.
The mind is pestered by irrelevant intrusive thoughts prompting the phrase “monkey mind.” The exponential rapid progress in technology has far out run mans ability to evolve and adjust. With the fast pace of modern society our sensory input is working to saturation point. The “Monkey Mind’ is bombarded, the chimpanzee is hyperactive. To the point it is hard to concentrate, meditation is needed to calm the raging bull, another metaphor for the uncontrolled mind.
The concept of the bull is attributed to a Taoist scholar and enlarged on by Chinese Chan later adopted by Japanese Zen Buddhists. Ten pictures of a man taming a bull, the bull represents the mind, the pictures progressively show the process from unruly, through to calm, symbolic of how meditation can calm the mind to enlightenment. These series of pictures are called the Ten Ox Herding or The Ten Bull Herding pictures. In South Korea Buddhist temples are beautiful decorated with these colourful pictures.
Not a black dog day.
These are not the only animals I am working with. I had an unruly puppy, spoilt rotten, it grew into an ill-tempered savage dog. Ego was his name he was defiantly not man’s best friend. I chained him up and threw him a bone now and again. I have muzzled him and can now take him for walks. Ego follows wagging his tail but cannot be trusted he needs constant supervision. I keep a watchful eye on him but he still shows off a bit. That is alright as long as ego’s little antics remain harmless and amusing.
Let us eat out tonight.
Now the monkey, the bull, and the dog are performing reasonably. No need to train my pig I never had a greed problem I was lucky having enough healthy food to keep him satisfied. The one stupid animal I am still working on is the ass or is it a donkey? I will have to Google to find out.
Define ass: 1. it is a hoofed mammal of the horse family smaller and with longer ears than a horse.
2. Informal, a stupid or inept person.
A little Horse.
I go to the public library for books, mostly nonfiction, written by qualified people who have a back ground in the subject. It is important to learn from someone who is a genuine authority on the subject. Having said that I would advise you to confirm what I write using Google. We should always get conformation and facts never taking someone’s opinion on trust. They may be well-meaning but misguided because they accepted on faith alone.
A male donkey is Jack donkey or ass.
There is a lot of propaganda floating around, half-truths and unsubstantiated comment. Pick your TV programs carefully, record them and watch them at your leisure, fast forwarding the “Monkey Ads”. Feeding garbage into your mind is probably as bad as eating rubbish. As they say you are what you eat (if this is true, be brave, do not eat chicken) eat nourishing healthy food. There are loads of negative, violent and stupid entertainment, if we fill our mind with too much of this rubbish it affects our thinking. Our thoughts effect our actions, actions repeated become habits.
Another example of taming the ox.
It is a never-ending struggle keeping my circus performing well. I honestly believe I am making good progress. I had a slow start and was left behind in the “Rat Race”. I am not that fond of rats and their treadmill. That is why I stopped competing and it left me more time to train my unruly menagerie. I am now less hasty but progressing faster. I believe I have overcome most of the obstacles blocking my joy of life, or is that the dog barking, “Get in behind Ego.” As the Kiwi sheep farmer said.
Ox mural showing temple decoration.
The dictionary defined philosophy as 1. Love and pursuit of wisdom by intellectual means and moral self-discipline. Forget about the other seven definitions the first one fits me like hot pants on Kylie Minogue. Does that make me a philosopher? I hear the dog barking again and the monkey is starting to chatter. I have been reading James Lovelock’s theories about earth as a living organism. I have to be ever mindful, I relax, and although it is on the endangered list of species a Caquetá titi monkey swings down in the jungle of my mind, I grab its tail and start to swing with it.
Carved wood decoration on Korean temple.
Up in the branches of the “Thinking Tree” that was the thought that hooked onto my mind; I am away with the hairy-fairies. Trees must have feeling they sense the sun and turn in its direction to do their photosynthesis work as all plants do. This process turns light energy into chemical energy that can be used to take up nutrients from the soil for its growth. Carbohydrates are synthesized from carbon dioxide and water, oxygen is released. Trees maintain our atmosphere, give us food and shelter from a hot sunny day or a rainy one. This shows trees are capable of love, trees love us and I love trees. You can call me a tree hugger or greenie I will not be upset, love is all we have to save our demise. I take a few deep breaths and come back to earth.
Caught in the act hugging a NZ Kauri.
Everything is interdependent, everything relies on something else to survive. This is how nature works, animals depend on plants and other animals for sustenance, they in turn provide food for other creatures and plants need nutrients from composted, decaying matter. Everything is used, nothing wasted in nature’s cycle. Nature does not encourage greed in its delicate balance. Yes, it is time for the dangerous, death-defying, high-wire act performance by a crazy troop of tightrope walkers; this is the greatest show on earth.
The clown did not use the zoom.
Forgive my rambling stupidity, but every circus has a clown and I let the monkey out to play in safe areas where he cannot escape and get up to serious mischief. Comment and let me know if you have found a true word in my humor. You know the cliché, many a true word is said in jest. Are you reading between the lines? That is why I put in my photos between the lines. There are many ways of looking at things and interpreting them. If we are not in a hurry we will see more. I hope the tips in my post are not rubbish tips.
Zen include a circle as an empty vessle holds more.
jacksjottings 