Thoughts from Madison Nef
Compared to the other chapters in the book, chapter three was very short. It was only broken into two parts, but it was still a good read. In this chapter, Yutang covered a story of Chinese lore- one about the Monkey. Now, in the story, the Monkey is a very powerful being. He can shape shift, and even force his way into heaven. However, he is never allowed into heaven as the gatekeepers do not deem him fit enough or ready to dine with the gods. As the story goes, one of the gods hosts a large feast, to which the Monkey is not invited.
Enraged, the Monkey sneaks into heaven and manages to confuse a fairy, sending him in the opposite direction of the party and telling him the location is changed. He then shape shifts into the fairy and heads to the party himself. He is the first to arrive, and he changes into a sleeping-bug and poisons the guards watching over the wine. He then drinks all the wine himself, and eats all the food, ruining the feast. Upon arriving, the other guests suspected the Monkey, but he was already gone. He left Heaven, fearing his punishment.
He was the king of where he lived, and he put up a sign that read “The Great Sage, Equal of Heaven”. This caused wars between the gods and the Monkey, and he was not captured until the Goddess of Mercy dropped a flower sprig down from Heaven and knocked him out. In the story, the monkey represents all of us humans… imperfect, rebellious, and unfit to enter Heaven. In the story it is noted that the Monkey itself was too good for mortals on Earth, yet not pure enough to join the immortals. It was wise, but also very conceited and with no humility. The Monkey did not earn humility until it was chained to a rock for over 500 years. Only after was it unchained by the Abbot and learned humility.
Today, monkeys are loved by many, despite their mischievous personality and their conceited and somewhat annoying attitudes. Yutang states that as the monkey depicted in the story was an image of humans, we should learn to come to love and know humanity as it is, even with all its imperfections and shortcomings. He then goes on to say that this why he questions that God made us imperfect on purpose.
Yutang believed that we were not modeled after God himself, but after monkeys. As he put it, we are “as close to God as ants are to us”. We have minds, and we believe we are great thinkers and often blow ourselves up to more than we actually are because of this. It was his belief that creatures of nature were all perfect and got along in harmony with each other- and any that didn’t, were removed.
However, when man was created, he tried to break away and form his own lifestyle, his own civilization. In this civilization, creatures whose laws were perfect became criticized and judged for doing what their natural instincts told them to: dogs became too noisy, mice became thieves, tortoises became lazy, horses were timid and lions and other beasts were seen as savage killers. Adapting to nature was easy, and instincts were prime and ruled above mind. However, things have become so bent after centuries and we now are taught to adapt ourselves to ourselves- and instinct that was once a key to survival is now frowned upon.
I think that this closes up the paper and all I have to say on it. I think that Yutang had an interesting point, comparing us to monkeys- If you follow the theory of evolution then I guess it makes sense, but the story actually made sense. You’d have to read it for yourself to get the grasp of it, I only summarized it. It is the third chapter of the book, titled “Our Animal Heritage”. The whole book is well worth the read
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