The usual
words for monkeys in Pali are kapi, makkata and vanara. These
words seem to
be used loosely and interchangeably in the Tipitaka as is suggested by the mention of a large
black-faced monkey, a clear reference to the Hanuman Langur, and a small
red-faced monkey, a reference to the Rhesus Macaque. In both cases the word makkata is used (Ja.II,445). However, many of the numerous stories about
monkeys in the Jatakas would seem to refer mainly to the macaque because this monkey
would have been more familiar to most people and because of its more human-like
appearance and often amusing antics. Monkeys pull faces and threaten people
(Ja.II,70) and while moving through the forest they grab a branch and let go of
it only to grab another (S.II,95; Sn.791). Hunters used to go into the forests
of the Himalayan foothills and set traps of sticky pitch to catch them. The
more curious monkeys would touch the pitch, get stuck and while trying to free
one paw would get their other paws stuck. The hunters would then kill them, put
the carcass on a spit and cook them over a fire (S.V,146).
The Tipitaka often uses the
term monkey mind (kapicitta) to describe the agitated, easily distracted and
incessantly moving behaviour of ordinary human consciousness (Ja.III,148;
V,445). The
Buddha said that a person with uncontrolled craving ‘jumps from here to there like a
monkey searching for fruit in the forest.’ (Dhp.334). The monk Valliya
compared the body to a five-doored house and the mind to a macaque racing
around inside it. Then he cried to himself, ‘Be still, monkey, stop running. Things are not as they were before.
Now you are restrained with wisdom.’ (Th.125-6). Maha
Kassapa said that a monk who wears rag robes
and yet is conceited, is like a monkey wrapped in a lion's skin (Th.1081). In a
story meant to illustrate the idea that greed can make one blind to one's own
benefit, the Jataka
tells of a langur who lets go of all the beans it had just to retrieve one that
it had dropped (Ja.II,74). Street entertainers had monkeys which were trained
to play with snakes and to do tricks (Ja.III,198). According to the Jataka
the Bodhisattva was often reborn as a monkey and throughout the Jataka stories monkeys are depicted as having the best and
worst human traits and attitudes. And if you wish to know
just how human-like monkeys can be in some ways have a look at this wonderful documentary.
2 comments:
Delighteful! Thanks, as always, for making interesting, insightful connections.
Hello! Some time ago You asked whether anyone knows about suttas that discuss the precept of not eating at improper hours. Recently I found the Latukikopama Sutta in Majjh. II (translation of bhikkhuni Uppalavanna), where Tathagata speaks with Udayi, and Udayi speaks about his experience of discpleship under the guidance of Tathagata. One of the topics covered is the topic of eating, and eating finally only once a day. The sutta gives an impression of gradual training, i.e. that at least on certain periods Bhagavan Shakyamuni required of his monks that they eat only once aday, before that they ate twice aday, and other things. This seems to have been his method of teaching at the time of this particular sutta.
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