In Journey to the West, Monkey's ignorance subtly changes within the period that he spends with Tripitaka and his religious beliefs. Tripitaka, who is a priest on his way to India to collect sculptures, holds high moral principles and ideals according to his Buddhist beliefs. Monkey, who is born with no parents, doesn’t know how the society works and therefore is trap in his own perception of the world. However, when both of the characters embark on the journey to India, how can Monkey protect Tripitaka safely without any conflicts? In The Blossoming of Ignorance written by Saskia Abrahms-Kavunenko is a research paper based on Mongolian’s religious ignorance and their Buddhist beliefs. The Challenge of Ignorance by Finn Jensen is an editorial …show more content…
based on manufacture problems due to ignorance and how to expand one’s knowledge.
In The Blossoming of Ignorance by Saskia Abrahms-Kavunenko and The Challenge of Ignorance by Finn Jensen can expand more on Monkey’s actions based on his character trait, ignorance. Monkey’s ignorance changes throughout the story based on Tripitaka’s beliefs and his own actions. One of the reasons why Monkey’s ignorance changes is because of Tripitaka’s influence. Tripitaka and Monkey faced a major disagreement when they came upon a group of thieves. “A priest should be ready to die rather than commit acts of violence”, said Tripitaka. (Wu 21). Tripitaka believes life is valuable and knows death is unescapable. “I don’t mind telling you…I killed a pretty fair number of people”, said Monkey. (Wu 21). In this quote, Monkey can come out as an arrogant character by boosting the lives he had destroyed. …show more content…
This shows his ignorance because he never had come across these kind of beliefs. He was never given a chance to understand the meaning of life since he is an immortal, so he wouldn’t be able to see Tripitaka’s point of view. In The Blossoming of Ignorance, Kavunenko talks about religious ignorance and how people who are normally not religious tends to have a different type of view from how religions express its beliefs. “Blossoming space for hope and religious enthusiasm.” (Kavunenko 1). Non-religious people would usually turn towards religion beliefs if something unfortunate happens to them. According to the research, they feel like it wouldn’t hurt to try going to temples, praying and hoping for the best. On the other hand, Monkey can relate to this explanation when he ran away and came back from the advice of the dragon of the eastern ocean and Kuan-yin. Kuan-yin resembles the Buddha in Buddhism. Although it was difficult for Monkey to be wearing the cap – Kuan-yin gave the cap to Tripitaka so he can control Monkey by reciting the spell – but he was willing to put in the effort to obey Tripitaka. Another reason why Monkey’s ignorance subtly changes is based on his own actions.
“I know what I am about”, said Monkey. (Wu 18). Right after he became Tripitaka’s disciple, he killed a tiger for its skin so he can use it as his coat. This resembles all the times when he lived lavishly as the “Handsome Monkey King”. In a way, it looks like he’s trying to look better to make it up for his physical appearance because he became self-conscious when people in the village called him a monster and ran away from him. However, his selfish actions changes in the middle of the story. “You were kind enough yesterday to introduce my Master into the house and we owe it to you that we have found a new disciple.” After Monkey helped Mr.Kao and his daughter get away from Pigsy, he collected the broken pieces of gold and silver for Mr.Kao. He learned how to reject gifts and how to thank people by learning from Tripitaka. In The Challenge of Ignorance by Finn Jensen, he talked about the difficulty of manufacturing integrated circuits. “We need to expand our sum of knowledge.” (Jensen 1). He admitted that he and his team are ignorant however, it’s not a positive or a negative factor but it is a challenge that they have to learn how to overcome. It may be two different situations in both of the stories, but the results are the same thing – learn how to expand one’s knowledge. Monkey’s actions at first can be seen as selfish because back when he was a Monkey King, he basically got all the
necessities of life or even more. However, now he’s learning how to share and give because he is learning these morals from Tripitaka and starting a new beginning. In conclusion, Monkey’s ignorance subtly changes as the story goes on. His personality is different from Tripitaka’s, however he learned how to work together as a team and how to obey his master. Monkey, who is born with no parents and an immortal life, cannot be blamed for his ignorance because he was never taught about any morals. His improvements are shown throughout the story based on Tripitaka’s beliefs. When he ran away from Tripitaka after killing the thieves, he was willing to come back and accept the India’s mission after Kuan-yin’s advice. He also learned how to not be greedy and instead offered whatever he can to help the others in need. In The Blossoming of Ignorance by Saskia Abrahms-Kavunenko and The Challenge of Ignorance by Finn Jensen, both of the authors explain about how challenging it is to overcome a person’s ignorance. It is difficult to change a person’s habit but all it needs is dedication and guidance. Tripitaka guided his disciple, Monkey, into the right path and Monkey was unknowingly learning from him.
In the book Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls, Jay lives near monkeys that will make him rich if he catches them. The book took place in the Cherokee Ozarks of Oklahoma in the 19th century. The protagonist of the book is Jay Berry, a 14-year-old boy who is very arrogant but changes as the book ends. The monkeys are obviously the antagonist of the novel. The monkeys are extremely intelligent creatures, especially Jumbo, the smart leader of the pack. The conflict of the story is man vs. nature. In the novel the Summer of the Monkeys, the importance of overcoming fears through its development of the plot and theme.
“I warn you of the consequences” - “The Monkey's Paw” (page 89) this essay will be comparing and contrasting Two stories “The Monkey's paw” by w.w. Jacobs and “The Third wish” by Joan Aiken. In “The Monkey's paw” and “The Third Wish” the mood and setting are almost completely different, If it wasn't for the theme this book wouldn't be so similar .
much about many of the local native beliefs. But he has also learned of death, hatred,
From beginning to end both Jin and the Monkey King come against social exclusion. Forasmuch as in the book “ABC”, on page 13-16. The Monkey faces exclusion just after hearing a party for the Gods. After all Monkey King went to the party, he was told that he couldn't join the party because he wasn't
Three wishes, an old Indian curse, and a mummified paw, that was cut from a monkey. This is going to be exciting! “The Monkey’s Paw” is a short story written by W.W. Jacobs in the early 1900’s just after the turn of the centenary. Even though the text is short, it grabs the reader’s attention and keeps them on the edge of their seats until the very end. As exhilarating as this thriller is to read, unfortunately like many literary works written during that time, “The Monkey’s Paw,” is demeaning towards women and goes against feminist literary criticism’s principles and ideologies.
There are at least 145 living species of the suborder Anthropoidea . Over 90% of them are monkeys. The remaining species are apes and humans. The anthropoids (members of the suborder Anthropoidea) have been the most successful primates in populating the earth. They are generally larger, more intelligent, and have more highly developed eyes than the prosimians.
Bibliography Suzuki, Shunryu. Zen Mind, Beginner Mind. New York & Tokyo: Weatherhill, 1982. Young, William A. The World’s Religions, Worldviews and Contemporary Issues.
Nonetheless, Monkey’s intellectual journey shows him how to become humble about this knowledge and effectively use it. On page 75, Buddha presents Monkey a chance to have the Jade Emperor’s position under one task: to jump off the palm of Buddha’s right hand. Although Monkey thinks that the task is absurd and easily doable he fails and even suffers from embarrassment. As Monkey jumped off Buddha’s palm and what he thought was the ground, he only managed to jump to the base of Buddha’s middle finger. Monkey failed to realize that jumping off Buddha’s hand would result in leaving the face of Earth. However, he stated, “This is the end of the World”, when looking at the hands of Buddha. With his knowledge yet not being used effectively, he failed to understand his words that resulted in his embarrassment and shock demonstrated on page 76. He effectively uses his knowledge in the beginning in Chapter XXIV when he comes up with a clever plan to overthrow the Tiger Strength Immortal, Deer Strength Immortal, and Ram Strength Immortal. The three immortals initiate a series of games of replicating various skills that they each possess. In order for Tripikita and his disciples to regain their passports and move on their journey to gather the Scriptures, Tripikita must successfully win every game. Given an open opportunity to use his knowledge and
In "The Journey to The West”, Tripitaka, and three of his. disciplines were sent to India to retrieve the holy sculptures, and help them become Buddha. which is known as enlightenment. Throughout their journey, they had experienced different. situations and supposedly each situation was supposed to help them become better, which in the end, they were all enlightened.
Samuel Johnson quote, "Ignorance, when voluntary, is criminal," can be interpreted in many ways while still having the same base meaning. My interpretation of the quote is when one does something that he or she knows is wrong or does something without gaining full knowledge about the action and the consequences of that action, the level of ignorance that person obtains should be considered a crime. When a person knowingly does something that can harm oneself and other people or things around him or her, that person’s action should consider criminal. The level of ignorance that person has to his or self, personal safety and safety for others is dangerous and should not be accept in society. For example, people who smoke in public places, such
Viewing and observing primates at the zoo and using them as a research subject is crucial to help with the understanding of how humans came to be. Since humans and primates are onwards of 95% genetically similar (Why are Humans Primates), observing them is a great tool to better understand humans and the relationship we share with primates. Though some research done on primates has questioned the morality of such a thing, by not observing our closest ancestors, we would not have many of the answers about humans that we have today. Non-human primates can teach us many things about ourselves, from evolution,to behavioral and social characteristics.
In Lord of the flies, Piggy shows signs of a shy character that is often stepped on by the other boys. He is a very intelligent human with bright ideas, but every time he suggests a thought, no one
The monkeys of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book are a very unique group of characters. They are viewed by the other animals of the jungle, or the Jungle People as they call themselves, as outcasts and outlaws. The most prominent chapter they occur in, “Kaa’s Hunting”, shows their lawless, shiftless, and uncivilized way of life. This image in itself does not give off any racist undertone. However, Disney’s adaption of The Jungle Book carries this view of the monkeys, while also giving them strong attributes that are commonly associated with African-Americans.
Monkey King, also known as Sun Wukong, which is a main character in the Chinese classical novel Journey to the West. Monkey King can be found in many stories and adaptions. The novel Journey to the West or Monkey King tells of a simian’s revolt against Heaven, of its defeat by the Buddha, and of its later being recruited as pilgrim to protect the monk Tripitaka on its quest for scriptures in India (Lai, 1994). So far, Monkey King has become one of the most enduring Chinese literary characters, it has a colorful cultural history and varied background. Monkey King is also considered by some scholars to be influenced by both the Hindu deity Hanuman from the Ramayana and elements of Chinese folklore (Subbaraman, 2002). The original Chinese novel Journey to the West is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. It published in the 16th century during the Ming Dynasty and attributed to Wu Cheng’en (Babara S, 1994). The achievement of the novel has drawn widespread attention, various reasons support its popularity. This easy will analyse the varied background, cultural history, social environment of Monkey King, the novel Journey to the West and its author Wu Cheng’en. Furthermore why this novel for many years by the world's attention. It is obvious that the historical reasons of this extraordinary achievement are diverse.
Chinua Achebe's novel, Things Fall Apart, uses the changes in African tribal culture brought about by European colonization to illustrate the evolution of the character Okonkwo. As Okonkwo leads his life, his experiences, personality and thought are revealed to the reader. The obstacles he faces in life are made numerous as time progresses. Okonkwo's most significant challenge originates within himself. He also encounters problems not only when in opposition to the white culture, but in his own culture, as he becomes frustrated with tribal ideals that conflict with his own. The last adversary he encounters is of the physical world, brought upon himself by his emotional and cultural problems. The manner through which Okonkwo addresses his adversaries in Things Fall Apart creates the mechanism that leads to his eventual destruction.