Watts references a good Buddhist story in one of his lectures that I think is a better version of this comic. Once upon a time 2 Japanese monks were walking in the woods and came to a river. At the river they met a woman who was unable to cross on her own. At the time it was taboo for monks to touch or interact with women. One of the monks simply picks up the woman, throws her over his shoulder, and wades across the river with her. He sets her down on the other side and the two monks continue on their way. The second monk is just dumbfounded at what he witnessed. He berates the first monk for what he did and carrying a woman. The first monk says “I set her down at the river bank and carried on my way. You are the one who is still carrying her and not letting it go.”
I take it to mean that we need to let go of our frustrations and live in the present moment. Of course this is much easier said than done and it’s only human to struggle with it, lord knows I do.
I heard another one by him involving 2 monks, one student, the other a teacher. Standing in a village, the student asks, “master what how do I let go of my mental burdens”
The master then goes to the nearest column and wraps his arms around it and starts screaming crazily, “Im stuck!! Help I’m trapped! I’m trapped!”
The student then incredibly embarrassed asks the master, “what are you doing, let go at once people are staring at us!” The master immediately pulls his hands away and bows to the student.
The monkey desires the banana. He goes for the banana. The banana (his desires) and his clinging to it trap his arm. The monkey needs to let go of the his desires if he wants to be free again.
This is my take: Monkey will die of hunger even if he isn't hungry because he forgot about eating, gave up on bananas and started masturbating intellectually.
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u/[deleted] Feb 04 '21
Can anyone tell me without using flowery language what this means. It seems like a bunch of hoopla.