Mind monkey - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Mind monkey or Monkey mind, from Chinese

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

xinyuan and Sino-Japanese shin'en 心猿 [lit. "heart-/mind-monkey"], is a Buddhist term meaning "unsettled; restless; capricious; whimsical; fanciful; inconstant; confused; indecisive; uncontrollable". In addition to Buddhist writings, including Chan or Zen

Zen

Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...

, Consciousness-only, Pure Land

Pure land

A pure land, in Mahayana Buddhism, is the celestial realm or pure abode of a Buddha or Bodhisattva. The various traditions that focus on Pure Lands have been given the nomenclature Pure Land Buddhism. Pure lands are also evident in the literature and traditions of Taoism and Bön.The notion of 'pure...

, and Shingon, this "mind-monkey" psychological metaphor was adopted in Daoism, Neo-Confucianism

Neo-Confucianism

Neo-Confucianism is an ethical and metaphysical Chinese philosophy influenced by Confucianism, that was primarily developed during the Song Dynasty and Ming Dynasty, but which can be traced back to Han Yu and Li Ao in the Tang Dynasty....

, poetry, drama, and literature. "Mind-monkey" occurs in two reversible four-character idiom

Four-character idiom

Chengyu are a type of traditional Chinese idiomatic expressions, most of which consist of four characters. Chengyu were widely used in Classical Chinese and are still common in vernacular Chinese writing and in the spoken language today...

s with yima or iba 意馬 [lit. "thought-/will-horse"], most frequently used in Chinese xinyuanyima 心猿意馬 and Japanese ibashin'en 意馬心猿. The "Monkey King" Sun Wukong

Sun Wukong

Sun Wukong , also known as the Monkey King is a main character in the classical Chinese epic novel Journey to the West . In the novel, he is a monkey born from a stone who acquires supernatural powers through Taoist practices...

in the Journey to the West

Journey to the West

Journey to the West is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. It was written by Wu Cheng'en in the 16th century. In English-speaking countries, the tale is also often known simply as Monkey. This was one title used for a popular, abridged translation by Arthur Waley...

personifies the mind-monkey. Note that much of the following summarizes Carr (1993).

Linguistic and cultural background

"Mind-monkey" 心猿 is an exemplary animal metaphor. Some figures of speech are cross-linguistically common, verging upon linguistic universal

Linguistic universal

A linguistic universal is a pattern that occurs systematically across natural languages, potentially true for all of them. For example, All languages have nouns and verbs, or If a language is spoken, it has consonants and vowels. Research in this area of linguistics is closely tied to the study of...

s; many languages use "monkey" or "ape" words to mean "mimic", for instance, Italian scimmiottare "to mock; to mimic" < scimmia "monkey; ape", Japanese sarumane 猿真似 [lit. "monkey imitation"] "copycat; superficial imitation", and English monkey see, monkey do

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Monkey see, monkey do is a saying that originated in Jamaica in the early 18th century and popped up in American culture in the early 1920s. The saying refers to the learning of a process without an understanding of why it works...

or to ape). Other animal metaphors have culture-specific meanings; compare English chickenhearted "cowardly; timid'; easily frightened" and Chinese jixin 雞心 [lit. "chicken heart"] "heart-shaped; cordate".

The four morphological

Morphology (linguistics)

In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis and description, in a language, of the structure of morphemes and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context...

elements of Chinese xinyuanyima or Japanese shin'en'iba are xin or shin 心 "heart; mind", yi or i 意 "thought", yuan or en 猿 "monkey", and ma or ba 馬 "horse"'.

The 心 "heart; mind" and 意 "idea; will"

The psychological components of the "mind-monkey will-horse" metaphor are Chinese xin or Sino-Japanese shin or kokoro 心 "heart; mind; feelings, affections; center" and yi or i 意 'thought, idea; opinion, sentiment; will, wish; meaning'. This Chinese character

Chinese character

Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...

心 was graphically simplified from an original pictogram

Pictogram

A pictograph, also called pictogram or pictogramme is an ideogram that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Pictographs are often used in writing and graphic systems in which the characters are to considerable extent pictorial in appearance.Pictography is a...

of a heart, and 意 "thought; think" is an ideogram

Ideogram

An ideogram or ideograph is a graphic symbol that represents an idea or concept. Some ideograms are comprehensible only by familiarity with prior convention; others convey their meaning through pictorial resemblance to a physical object, and thus may also be referred to as pictograms.Examples of...

combining 心 under yin 音 "sound; tone; voice" denoting "sound in the mind; thought; idea".

In Chinese Buddhism and Japanese Buddhism, xin/shin 心 "heart; mind" generally translates Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

citta "the mind; state of mind; consciousness" and yi/i 意 translates Sanskrit manas "the mental organ; deliberation". Some Buddhist authors have used 心 and 意 interchangeably for "mind; cognition; thought". Compare these Digital Dictionary of Buddhism

Digital Dictionary of Buddhism

The project of the Digital Dictionary of Buddhism was initiated by Charles Muller, a specialist in East Asian Buddhism, during his first year of graduate school when he realized the dearth of lexicographical works available for both East Asian Buddhism and classical Chinese...

glosses

心 "Spirit, motive, sense. The mind as the seat of intelligence, mentality, idea. (Skt. citta) … Thought, intellect, feeling; (Skt. mānasa)"
意 "Thought, intellect; (Skt. manas; Tib. yid); the mind; (Skt. citta; Tib. sems)".

For example, take the Buddhist word Chinese xin-yi-shi or Japanese shin-i-shiki 心意識 [lit. "mind, thought, and cognition"] that compounds three near-synonyms. Abhidharma

Abhidharma

Abhidharma or Abhidhamma are ancient Buddhist texts which contain detailed scholastic and scientific reworkings of doctrinal material appearing in the Buddhist Sutras, according to schematic classifications...

theory uses this word as a general term for "mind; mentality", but Yogacara

Yogacara

Yogācāra is an influential school of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing phenomenology and ontology through the interior lens of meditative and yogic practices. It developed within Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism in about the 4th century CE...

theory of Eight Consciousnesses distinguishes xin/shin 心 "store consciousness

Store consciousness

The Eight Consciousnesses are concepts developed in the tradition of the Yogacara school of Buddhism...

", yi/i 意 "manas consciousness", and shi/shiki 識 "six object-contingent consciousnesses".

Xinyuanyima 心猿意馬 [lit. "mind-monkey idea-horse"] "distracted; indecisive; restless" is comparable with some other Chinese collocation

Collocation

In corpus linguistics, collocation defines a sequence of words or terms that co-occur more often than would be expected by chance. In phraseology, collocation is a sub-type of phraseme. An example of a phraseological collocation is the expression strong tea...

xinmanyizu 心滿意足 ["heart-full mind-complete"] "perfectly content; fully satisfied"
xinhuiyilan 心灰意懶 ["heart-ashes mind-sluggish"] "disheartened; discouraged; hopeless" (or xinhuiyileng 心灰意冷 with leng "cold; frosty")
xinhuangyiluan 心慌意亂 ["heart-flustered mind-disordered"] "alarmed and hysterical; perturbed"
xinfanyiluan 心煩意亂 ["heart-vexed mind-disordered"] "terribly upset; confused and worried"

The 猿 "monkey" and 馬 "horse"

The animal components of the "mind-monkey will-horse" metaphor are Chinese yuan or Japanese en 猿 "gibbon; monkey; ape" and ma or ba 馬 "horse".

Chinese yuan 猿 (yuan 猨 or nao 猱) originally meant the "Agile Gibbon

Agile Gibbon

The agile gibbon , also known as the black-handed gibbon, is an Old World primate in the Hylobatidae or gibbon family, a group also collectively referred to as the "lesser apes"...

, Black-handed Gibbon, Hylobates agilis" but now generally means "ape; monkey" (e.g., yuanren 猿人 ["ape-man"] "Homo erectus

Homo erectus

Homo erectus is an extinct species of hominid that lived from the end of the Pliocene epoch to the later Pleistocene, about . The species originated in Africa and spread as far as India, China and Java. There is still disagreement on the subject of the classification, ancestry, and progeny of H...

; anthropoid apes'"). Robert van Gulik

Robert van Gulik

Robert Hans van Gulik was a highly educated orientalist, diplomat, musician , and writer, best known for the Judge Dee mysteries, the protagonist of which he borrowed from the 18th-century Chinese detective novel Dee Goong An.-Life:Robert van Gulik was the son of a medical officer in the Dutch...

(1967:33) concludes that until about the fourteenth century, yuan designated the gibbon, but due to extensive deforestation, its habitat shrank to remote southern mountains; from then on, "the majority of Chinese writers knowing about the gibbon only by hearsay, they began to confuse him with the macaque or other Cynopithecoids." Other common Chinese "monkey" names include feifei 狒狒 "Hamadryas baboon

Hamadryas Baboon

The Hamadryas baboon is a species of baboon from the Old World monkey family. It is the northernmost of all the baboons; being native to the Horn of Africa and the southwestern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. These regions provide habitats with the advantage for this species of fewer natural...

, Papio hamadryas", hou 猴 "monkey; ape", and mihou 獼猴 (muhou 母猴) or husun 猢猻 "rhesus macaque

Rhesus Macaque

The Rhesus macaque , also called the Rhesus monkey, is one of the best-known species of Old World monkeys. It is listed as Least Concern in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in view of its wide distribution, presumed large population, and its tolerance of a broad range of habitats...

, rhesus monkey, Macaca mulatta", Victor H. Mair

Victor H. Mair

Victor Henry Mair is a Philologist specializing in Sinitic and Indo-European languages, and holds the position of Professor of Chinese Language and Literature in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States...

(1990:36) reconstructs Old Sinitic *mug-gug, which "probably ultimately derives from the same African word as English 'macaque'" and is reminiscent of Sanskrit "maraṭāsana ('monkey posture')" (see Hanumanasana

Hanumanasana

Hanumanasana, or Monkey Pose is an asana.- Etymology :The name comes from the Sanskrit words Hanuman and asana , and commemorates the giant leap made by Hanuman to reach the Lankan islands from the mainland of India.- Description :The yogi pushes one leg forward and one leg backwards until they...

). These "monkey; ape" characters combine the 犭 "dog radical

Radical (Chinese character)

A Chinese radical is a component of a Chinese character. The term may variously refer to the original semantic element of a character, or to any semantic element, or, loosely, to any element whatever its origin or purpose...

" with different phonetic elements, such as the yuan 袁 phonetic in yuan 猿.

In Chinese mythology

Chinese mythology

Chinese mythology is a collection of cultural history, folktales, and religions that have been passed down in oral or written tradition. These include creation myths and legends and myths concerning the founding of Chinese culture and the Chinese state...

, yuan "gibbons" were supposedly long-lived because they could yinqi 引氣 ["pull qi

In traditional Chinese culture, qì is an active principle forming part of any living thing. Qi is frequently translated as life energy, lifeforce, or energy flow. Qi is the central underlying principle in traditional Chinese medicine and martial arts...

"] "absorb life-force", which is a daoyin

Tao Yin

Tao Yin is a series of breathing exercises practiced by Taoists to cultivate ch'i, the internal energy of the body according to Traditional Chinese Medicine....

導引 ["guiding and pulling"] "Daoist gymnastic technique". Chinese classic texts

Chinese classic texts

Chinese classic texts, or Chinese canonical texts, today often refer to the pre-Qin Chinese texts, especially the Neo-Confucian titles of Four Books and Five Classics , a selection of short books and chapters from the voluminous collection called the Thirteen Classics. All of these pre-Qin texts...

mentioned "monkey leaping" and "monkey bowing" yoga (Miura 1989:354). One of the 2nd-century BCE Mawangdui Silk Texts

Mawangdui Silk Texts

The Mawangdui Silk Texts are texts of Chinese philosophical and medical works written on silk and found at Mawangdui in China in 1973. They include some of the earliest attested manuscripts of existing texts such as the I Ching, two copies of the Tao Te Ching, one similar copy of Strategies of the...

depicts 28 Daoist gymnastic exercises, many of which are named after animals, including number 22 muhou "macaque". In the present day, houquan 猴拳 ["monkey fist/boxing"] "Monkey Kung Fu

Monkey Kung Fu

Monkey Kung Fu, or Monkey Fist , is a Chinese martial art which utilizes ape or monkey-like movements as part of its technique.There are a number of independently developed systems of monkey kung fu...

" is a Chinese martial arts

Chinese martial arts

Chinese martial arts, also referred to by the Mandarin Chinese term wushu and popularly as kung fu , are a number of fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in China. These fighting styles are often classified according to common traits, identified as "families" , "sects" or...

style and xinyuanyima "mind-monkey will-horse" is a Daoist breath meditation technique.

When one breathes in and out, one's concentration causes the generative force to rise and fall (in the microcosmic orbit) thus slowly turning the wheel of the law. Count from one to ten and then from ten to one hundred breaths with the heart (mind) following the counting to prevent it from wandering outside. When the heart and breathing are in unison, this is called locking up the monkey heart and tying up the running horse of intellect. (Luk 1990:48)

The Japanese kanji

Kanji

Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...

猿 is pronounced as Sino-Japanese en < yuan or native saru "monkey", especially the indigenous "Japanese Macaque

Japanese Macaque

The Japanese macaque , historically known as saru , but now known as Nihonzaru to distinguish it from other primates, is a terrestrial Old World monkey species native to Japan....

, Macaca fuscata". In Japanese Shinto

Shinto

or Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written...

tradition, the monkey deity Sarutahiko was a divine messenger. Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney (1987:41) contrasts how, "in earlier periods the dominant meaning of the monkey was that of mediator between deities and humans. Later in history, its meaning as a scapegoat became increasingly dominant."

Chinese ma 馬 "horse", which was the linguistic source for Sino-Japanese ba or ma 馬 "horse", originally referred to Przewalski's Horse

Przewalski's Horse

Przewalski's Horse or Dzungarian Horse, is a rare and endangered subspecies of wild horse native to the steppes of central Asia, specifically China and Mongolia.At one time extinct in the wild, it has been reintroduced to its native habitat in Mongolia at the Khustain Nuruu...

and later the Mongolian horse

Mongolian horse

The Mongol horse is the native horse breed of Mongolia. The breed is purported to be largely unchanged since the time of Genghis Khan. Nomads living in the traditional Mongol fashion still hold more than 3 million animals, which outnumber the country's human population...

, Ferghana horse

Ferghana horse

Ferghana horses were one of China's earliest major imports, originating in an area in Central Asia. These horses, as depicted in Tang Dynasty pottery representations of them, "resemble the animals on the golden medal of Eucratides, King of Bactria ."-Ancient history:Dayuan, north of Bactria, was...

, etc. Horses were considered divine animals in both China (see Creel 1968) and Japan. For the Chinese, Edward H. Schafer

Edward H. Schafer

Edward Hetzel Schafer, was a leading historian of Tang Dynasty China. He wrote ground-breaking works such as The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A study of Tang exotics and The Vermilion Bird: T'ang images of the South. Schafer wrote his Ph.D...

says,

He was invested with sanctity by ancient tradition, endowed with prodigious qualities, and visibly stamped with the marks of his divine origin. A revered myth proclaimed him a relative of the dragon, akin to the mysterious powers of water. Indeed, all wonderful horses, such as the steed of the pious Hsüan-tsang which, in later legend [see the Xiyouji below], carried the sacred scriptures from India, were avatars of dragons, and in antiquity the tallest horses owned by the Chinese were called simply "dragons." (1963:59)

For the Japanese, the ancient Shinto practice of offering shinme 神馬 "sacred (esp. white) horses" to shrines has evolved into the modern donation of symbolic Shinto

Shinto

ema

Ema (Shinto)

are small wooden plaques on which Shinto worshippers write their prayers or wishes. The ema are then left hanging up at the shrine, where the kami receive them. They bear various pictures, often of animals or other Shinto imagery, and many have the word gan'i , meaning "wish", written along the side...

絵馬 [lit. "picture horse"] "votive tablets"'.

Besides the "mind-monkey idea-horse" metaphor, monkeys and horses have further associations. In Chinese astrology

Chinese astrology

Chinese astrology is based on the traditional astronomy and calendars. The development of Chinese astrology is tied to that of astronomy, which came to flourish during the Han Dynasty ....

, wu 午 "Horse

Horse (zodiac)

The Horse is the seventh of the 12 animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. The Year of the Horse is associated with the earthly branch symbol 午.- Years and the Five Elements :...

" and shen 申 "Monkey

Monkey (zodiac)

The Monkey is the ninth of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. The Year of the Monkey is associated with the earthly branch symbol 申.-Years and the five elements:...

" are the 7th and 9th of the 12 zodiacal animals. In Chinese animal mythology, monkeys supposedly bring good health to horses. The Bencao Gangmu (tr. Read 1931, no. 400) records the "custom of keeping a female monkey in the horse's stable to ward off sickness (the menstrual discharge of the monkey is said to give immunity to the horse against infectious diseases)".

Early literary history of "mind-monkeys"

This section summarizes Chinese and Japanese developments of xinyuan or shin'en 心猿 "mind-monkey" and yima or iba 意馬 "idea-horse" collocations and their synonyms. The earliest known textual usages are presented chronologically.

Chinese "mind monkey" collocations

Chinese authors coined "mind monkey" expressions from the Later Qin Dynasty

Later Qin

The Later Qin was a state of Qiang ethnicity of the Sixteen Kingdoms during the Jin Dynasty in China. Note that the Later Qin is entirely distinct from the ancient Qin Dynasty, the Former Qin, and the Western Qin....

(384-417 CE) through the Song Dynasty

Song Dynasty

The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...

(960-1279 CE). In modern usage, some terms are considered Classical Chinese

Classical Chinese

Classical Chinese or Literary Chinese is a traditional style of written Chinese based on the grammar and vocabulary of ancient Chinese, making it different from any modern spoken form of Chinese...

, but others like xinyuanyima "mind-monkey will-horse" are Modern Standard Chinese. Unless otherwise noted, translations are by Carr (1993:154-159).

Development of Chinese Mind-monkey Terms
Date (CE)	Text	Simplified characters	Traditional characters	Pinyin Pinyin Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...	Wade-Giles Wade-Giles Wade–Giles , sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a romanization system for the Mandarin Chinese language. It developed from a system produced by Thomas Wade during the mid-19th century , and was given completed form with Herbert Giles' Chinese–English dictionary of 1892.Wade–Giles was the most...	Literal meaning Literal and figurative language Literal and figurative language is a distinction in traditional systems for analyzing language. Literal language refers to words that do not deviate from their defined meaning. Figurative language refers to words, and groups of words, that exaggerate or alter the usual meanings of the component...
ca. 406	Weimojiesuoshuojing	心如猿猴	心如猨猴	xīn rú yuánhóu	hsin ju yuan-hou	"mind like a monkey"
ca. 540	Mengyu chanhui shi	爱马 … 心猿	愛馬 … 心猿	àimǎ … xīnyuán	ai-ma … hsin-yüan	"love-horse … mind-monkey"
657	Daci'ensi sanzang fashizhuan	情猿 … 意马	情猿 … 意馬	qíngyuán … yìmǎ	ch'ing-yüan … i-ma	'"feelings-monkey … will-horse"
ca. 840	Zengti Du yinju	心猿 … 意马	心猿 … 意馬	xīnyuán … yìmǎ	hsin-yüan … i-ma	"mind-monkey … will-horse"
947	Bianwen weimojiejing	心猿意马	心猿意馬	xīnyuányìmǎ	hsin-yüan-i-ma	"mind-monkey will-horse"
ca. 1180	Shuixuanshi	意马心猿	意馬心猿	yìmǎxīnyuán	i-ma-hsin-yüan	"will-horse mind-monkey"

The ca. 406 Weimojie suoshuo jing 維摩詰所說經 was Kumarajiva

Kumarajiva

Kumārajīva; was a Kuchean Buddhist monk, scholar, and translator. He first studied teachings of the Sarvastivada schools, later studied under Buddhasvāmin, and finally became a Mahāyāna adherent, studying the Madhyamaka doctrine of Nagarjuna. Kumārajīva settled in Chang'an, which was the imperial...

's groundbreaking CE Chinese translation of the Vimalakirti Sutra

Vimalakirti Sutra

The Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra , or Vimalakīrti Sūtra, is a Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtra. Among other subjects, the sutra teaches the meaning of nonduality...

. It introduced "mind-monkey" in the simile

Simile

A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two different things, usually by employing the words "like", "as". Even though both similes and metaphors are forms of comparison, similes indirectly compare the two ideas and allow them to remain distinct in spite of their similarities, whereas...

xin ru yuanhou 心如猨猴 "heart/mind like a monkey/ape" (with yuan 猿's variant Chinese character

Variant Chinese character

Variant Chinese characters are Chinese characters that are homophones and synonyms. Almost all variants are allographs in most circumstances, such as casual handwriting...

猨). "Since the mind of one difficult to convert is like an ape, govern his mind by using certain methods and it can then be broken in" (tr. Dudbridge 1970:168). Carr (1993:169) suggests the subsequent line about xiang ma 象馬 "elephants and horses" having unruly natures could have affected the later yima "idea-horse" term.

The Mengyu chanhui shi 蒙預懺悔詩 "Poem Repenting Foolish Pleasure" is attributed to Emperor Jianwen of Liang

Emperor Jianwen of Liang

Emperor Jianwen of Liang , personal name Xiao Gang , courtesy name Shizuan , nickname Liutong , was an emperor of the Chinese Liang Dynasty. He was initially not the crown prince of his father Emperor Wu, the founder of the dynasty, but became the crown prince in 531 after his older brother Xiao...

(503-550 CE), who was a renowned author. This poem has the oldest known usage of xinyuan "mind-monkey", but with (the possibly miscopied) aima 愛馬 "love-horse" instead of yima 意馬 "idea-horse". "The [三循/修] three disciplines/cultivations expel the [愛馬] love-horse, and the [六意/念] six recollections/ideas still the [心猿] mind-monkey." This Buddhistic poem has numerous graphic variants, including these sanxun 三循 "three disciplines" for sanxiu 三修 "three cultivations" (meditation on impermanence, awareness, and selflessness) and liuyi 六意 "six ideas" for liunian 六念 "six recollections" (mindfulness about Buddha

Gautama Buddha

Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian...

, dharma

Dharma

Dharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...

, sangha

Sangha

Sangha is a word in Pali or Sanskrit that can be translated roughly as "association" or "assembly," "company" or "community" with common goal, vision or purpose...

, precepts, almsgiving, and heaven). Based on these contextual graphic inconsistencies, Carr (1993:156) suggests the possibility that a scribe

Scribe

A scribe is a person who writes books or documents by hand as a profession and helps the city keep track of its records. The profession, previously found in all literate cultures in some form, lost most of its importance and status with the advent of printing...

transposed Jianwen's original yima 意馬 "idea-horse" as aima 愛馬 "love-horse".

The Daci'ensi sanzang fashizhuan 大慈恩寺三藏法師傳 "Biography of the Tripitaka Dharma Master of the Temple of Great Compassionate Blessings" is a biography of Xuanzang

Xuanzang

Xuanzang was a famous Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveler, and translator who described the interaction between China and India in the early Tang period...

(see the Xiyouji below) written by his disciple Kuiji

Kuiji

Kuiji 窺基 , an exponent of Yogācāra, was a Chinese monk and a prominent disciple of Xuanzang.Kuiji's commentaries on the Cheng weishi lun and his original treatise on Yogācāra, the Fayuan yilin chang 大乘法苑義林章 Kuiji 窺基 (632–682 CE), an exponent of Yogācāra, was a Chinese monk and a prominent disciple...

(or Ci'en, the namesake temple in Luoyang

Luoyang

Luoyang is a prefecture-level city in western Henan province of Central China. It borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the southeast, Nanyang to the south, Sanmenxia to the west, Jiyuan to the north, and Jiaozuo to the northeast.Situated on the central plain of...

, see Emperor Gaozong of Tang

Emperor Gaozong of Tang

Emperor Gaozong of Tang , personal name Li Zhi , was the third emperor of the Tang Dynasty in China, ruling from 649 to 683...

). This record of the Consciousness-Only (Yogacara

Yogacara

) Buddhism, has a memorial dated 657 CE that parallels yima "idea-/will-horse" with qingyuan 情猿 "emotion-/feeling-monkey": "Now if you wish to entrust your thoughts to the Chan sect, you must make your mind as pure as still water, control your emotion-monkey's indolence and fidgeting, and restrain your idea-horse's haste and galloping."

The Tang Dynasty

Tang Dynasty

The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...

poet Xu Hun

Xu Hun

Xu Hun was a Chinese poet of the Tang poetry tradition of the Tang Dynasty. He received his Jinshi degree through the imperial examination system in 832, and subsequently followed a "moderately distinguished" professional career...

許渾 (fl.

Floruit

Floruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...

832-844) wrote the first known parallel between "mind-monkey" and "idea-horse." His Zengti Du yinju 贈題杜隱居 "Poem Written for Sir Du the Recluse" says: "Nature exhausts the mind-monkey's hiding, spirit disperses the idea-horse's moving/stopping. Guests who come ought to know this: both self and world are unfeeling."

The common xinyuanyima "mind-monkey will-horse" phrase dates back to a bianwen 變文 "Vernacular Chinese

Vernacular Chinese

Written Vernacular Chinese refers to forms of written Chinese based on the vernacular language, in contrast to Classical Chinese, the written standard used from the Spring and Autumn Period to the early twentieth century...

transformation text" narrative version of the Weimojie suoshuo jing (above) that was discovered in the Mogao Caves

Mogao Caves

The Mogao Caves or Mogao Grottoes , also known as the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas , form a system of 492 temples southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis strategically located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu province, China...

. This jiangjingwen 講經文 "sutra lecture text" dated 947 CE says: "Within the indeterminable and unfathomable depths, the mind-monkey and idea-horse cease their craziness."

The 1075 CE Wuzhen pian

Wuzhen pian

The Wuzhen pian is a 1075 CE Daoist classic on Neidan-style internal alchemy. Its author Zhang Boduan 張伯端 was a Song Dynasty scholar of the Three teachings .-Author:...

, which is a Daoist classic on Neidan

Neidan

Neidan, or internal alchemy, spiritual alchemy is a concept in Taoist Chinese alchemy. It is a series of physical, mental, and spiritual disciplines intended to prolong the life of the body and create an immortal spiritual body that would survive after death.In Neidan the human body becomes a...

-style internal alchemy, used xinyuan "mind-monkey" without "horse".

Thoroughly understanding the mind-monkey, the machinations in the heart, by three thousand achievements one becomes a peer of heaven. There naturally is a crucible to cook the dragon and tiger; Why is it necessary to support a household and be attached to spouse and children? (tr. Cleary 1987:118)

Cleary (1987:198) glosses xinyuan as "the unruly mind, jumping from one object to another."

The Song Dynasty poet Zhu Yi 朱翌 (1098–1186 CE) reversed the Tang lyrical xinyuanyima expression into yimaxinyuan "will-horse mind-monkey". His Shuixuanshi 睡軒詩 "Sleeping Porch Poem" says: "Haste is useless with the idea-horse and mind-monkey, so take off your baggage someplace deep within dreamland."

The ca. 1200 Nan Tang shu 南唐書 "History of the Southern Tang

Southern Tang

Southern Tang was one of the Ten Kingdoms in south-central China created following the Tang Dynasty from 937-975. Southern Tang replaced the Wu Kingdom when Li Bian deposed the emperor Yang Pu....

" used the simile yi ru ma xin ru nao 意如馬心如猱 "ideas like a horse and mind like a gibbon/monkey". Congshan 從善 (939-987), seventh son of the figurehead Emperor Yuanzong of Southern Tang

Emperor Yuanzong of Southern Tang

Emperor Yuanzong of Southern Tang , also known as Zhongzhu of Southern Tang , personal name Li Jing , né Xu Jingtong Emperor Yuanzong of Southern Tang (南唐元宗), also known as Zhongzhu of Southern Tang (南唐中主, literally "the middle lord of Southern Tang"), personal name Li Jing (李璟, later changed to...

, confesses: "Long ago in my youth, my ideas were like a horse and my mind was like a monkey. I was indolent with happiness and enjoyed lust, was pleased with rewards and forgot toil."

The ca. 1590 Xiyouji 西遊記 "Journey to the West

Journey to the West

" (or "Monkey") popularized "mind-monkey" more than any other text. This famous Chinese novel centers upon the pilgrimage of Xuanzang

Xuanzang

Xuanzang was a famous Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveler, and translator who described the interaction between China and India in the early Tang period...

to India, and frequently uses xinyuan and yima expressions (Dudbridge 1970:167, Chang 1983:200). Many are found in the couplet titles of chapters, for instance, 30 "The evil demon attacks the true Dharma; The Horse of the Will recalls the Monkey of the Mind". The preeminent translator Anthony C. Yu

Anthony C. Yu

Anthony C. Yu is a literature and religion scholar. He is currently the Carl Darling Buck Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago....

(1977:59) describes controlling the mind-monkey and will-horse as "a theme central to the entire narrative and which receives repeated and varied developments." Chapter 7 has this exemplary poem:

A monkey's transformed body weds the human mind. Mind is a monkey – this, the truth profound. The Great Sage [Buddha], Equal to Heaven, is no idle thought. For how could the post of [Bima "Assistant of Horses"] justly show his gifts? The Horse works with the Monkey – and this means both Mind and Will, Must firmly be harnessed and not ruled without. All things return to Nirvāna, taking this one course: In union with Tathāgata [Buddha] to live beneath twin trees. (tr. Yu 1977:168)

Many Xiyouji scholars allegorically interpret xinyuan "heart-/mind-monkey" as the protagonist monkey-man Sun Wukong

Sun Wukong

and yima "idea-/will-horse" as the dragon prince White Horse that enters the story in chapter 15. There are long-standing scholarly disagreements over whether Sun Wukong evolved from Hanuman

Hanuman

Hanuman , is a Hindu deity, who is an ardent devotee of Rama, a central character in the Indian epic Ramayana and one of the dearest devotees of lord Rama. A general among the vanaras, an ape-like race of forest-dwellers, Hanuman is an incarnation of the divine and a disciple of Lord Rama in the...

, the monkey hero in the (3rd cent. BCE) Ramayana

Ramayana

The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...

. It is "imagistically proper" for Sun to be a monkey, says Mair (1989:662), because "Zen thought symbolizes the restless and unbridled mind of man as an "ape/monkey-mind" 心猿."

Japanese "mind-monkey" collocations

Japanese Buddhist monks not only imported Sino-Japanese vocabulary such as shin'en < xinyuan 心猿 "mind-monkey" and iba < yima 意馬 "idea-horse", but also invented analogous Japanese words like i'en 意猿 "idea-monkey" and shinba 心馬 "mind-horse". Unless otherwise noted, translations are by Carr (1993:159-161). The earliest known usages of relevant "mind-monkey" terminology are shown in the table below.

Development of Japanese Mind-monkey Terms
Date (CE)	Text	Kanji Kanji Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...	Hepburn Hepburn romanization The is named after James Curtis Hepburn, who used it to transcribe the sounds of the Japanese language into the Latin alphabet in the third edition of his Japanese–English dictionary, published in 1887. The system was originally proposed by the in 1885...	Literal meaning Literal and figurative language Literal and figurative language is a distinction in traditional systems for analyzing language. Literal language refers to words that do not deviate from their defined meaning. Figurative language refers to words, and groups of words, that exaggerate or alter the usual meanings of the component...
ca. 797	Sangō Shiiki	野馬 … 意猿	nouma … i'en	"wild horse … will/intention monkey"
" "	" "	心馬 … 意車	shinba … isha	"heart/mind horse" … "idea/will chariot"
ca. 1205	Genkyū hōgo	意馬 … 心猿	iba … shin'en	"will/intention horse … heart/mind monkey"
1223	Kaidōki	心船 … 意馬	shinsen … iba	"heart/mind boat" … "will/intention horse"
1675	Man'an kana hōgo	心猿意馬	shin'en'iba	"heart/mind monkey will/intention horse"
1699	Wakoku gosuiten	意馬心猿	ibashin'en	"will/intention horse heart/mind monkey"

During the Heian period

Heian period

The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. The period is named after the capital city of Heian-kyō, or modern Kyōto. It is the period in Japanese history when Buddhism, Taoism and other Chinese influences were at their height...

(794-1185 CE), the Chinese "mind-monkey" and "idea-horse" were paraphrased as i'en 意猿 "idea-monkey" and shinba 心馬 "mind-horse". The 797 CE Sangō Shiiki

Sango Shiiki

is a dialectic allegory written by Kūkai in 794. It is Japan's oldest comparative ideological critique.At the time of writing, Kūkai was 24 years old. It is his debut work.-Contents:...

三教指帰 "Indications of the Three teachings

Three teachings

In Chinese philosophy, the three teachings , are usually Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism when considered as a harmonious aggregate. The term may also refer to a non-religious philosophy built on that aggregation.-History:...

(Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism)" was written by Kūkai

Kukai

Kūkai , also known posthumously as , 774–835, was a Japanese monk, civil servant, scholar, poet, and artist, founder of the Shingon or "True Word" school of Buddhism. Shingon followers usually refer to him by the honorific titles of and ....

, who founded esoteric Shingon Buddhism

Shingon Buddhism

is one of the mainstream major schools of Japanese Buddhism and one of the few surviving Esoteric Buddhist lineages that started in the 3rd to 4th century CE that originally spread from India to China through traveling monks such as Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra...

. Two passages introduced Japanese "mind-monkey" and "will-horse" neologisms. One used i'en 意猿 "idea/will monkey" with the common word nouma 野馬 "wild horse": "The four great difficulties overexcite the wild horse's fast gallop, the twenty-six contributory causes mislead the plans of the idea-monkey." Another passage used shinba 心馬 "heart/mind horse" and isha 意車 "idea-chariot": "Whip the mind-horse to gallop off in the eight directions, grease the idea chariot and gambol within the nine heavens."

During the Kamakura period

Kamakura period

The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura Shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo....

(1185–1333 CE), Pure Land Buddhism

Pure Land Buddhism

Pure Land Buddhism , also referred to as Amidism in English, is a broad branch of Mahāyāna Buddhism and currently one of the most popular traditions of Buddhism in East Asia. Pure Land is a branch of Buddhism focused on Amitābha Buddha...

introduced the Sino-Japanese terms shin'en 心猿 "mind-monkey" and iba 意馬 "idea-horse", and an early travelogue popularized them. The Genkyū hōgo 元久法語 "Genkyū

Genkyu

was a after Kennin and before Ken'ei. This period spanned the years from February 1204 through April 1206. The reigning emperor was .-Change of era:* 1204 : The new era name was created to mark an event or a number of events...

era (1204–1206) Buddhist Sermons" is a collection of writings by Hōnen, the founder of the Jōdo Shū

Jodo Shu

, also known as Jōdo Buddhism, is a branch of Pure Land Buddhism derived from the teachings of the Japanese ex-Tendai monk Hōnen. It was established in 1175 and is the most widely practiced branch of Buddhism in Japan, along with Jōdo Shinshū....

. His ca. 1205 "Tozanjō 登山状 "Mountain Climbing Description" (tr. adapted from Carr 1993:159) uses iba with shin'en: "When you wish to enter the gate of determined goodness, then your idea-horse runs wild within the bounds of the six sense objects [rokujin 六塵 < Ayatana: "form, sound, smell, taste, tangibility, and dharma

Dharma

"]. When you wish to enter the gate of scattered goodness, then your mind-monkey gambols and jumps across the branches of the ten evil deeds [jūaku 十悪: killing, stealing, adultery, lying, cursing, slandering, equivocating, coveting, anger, and false views]." The 1223 Kaidōki 海道記 "Record of Coast Road Travels" was a travelogue of the Tōkaidō (road)

Tokaido (road)

The ' was the most important of the Five Routes of the Edo period, connecting Edo to Kyoto in Japan. Unlike the inland and less heavily travelled Nakasendō, the Tōkaidō travelled along the sea coast of eastern Honshū, hence the route's name....

from Kyoto

Kyoto

is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...

to Kamakura

Kamakura, Kanagawa

is a city located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, about south-south-west of Tokyo. It used to be also called .Although Kamakura proper is today rather small, it is often described in history books as a former de facto capital of Japan as the seat of the Shogunate and of the Regency during the...

. It used shinsen 心船 "heart/mind boat" meaning "imaginary journey" with iba 意馬 "idea/will horse" and wrote arasaru 荒猿 "wild monkey" for arasu 荒す "treat roughly/wildly": "I rowed the mind-boat for make-believe. As yet, I neither poled across myriad leagues of waves on the Coast Road, nor roughly rode the idea-horse to urge it on through clouds of the distant mountain barrier."

During the early Edo period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

(1603–1868), the four-character Chinese collocations yimashinen 意馬心猿 and shinenyima 心猿意馬 were introduced into Japanese. The 1675 Man'an kana hōgo 卍庵仮名法語, which was a vernacular collection of Zen

Zen

sermons, first used shin'en'iba 意馬心猿. "For this reason, even if you reside somewhere with remote mountain streams and desolate tranquillity, and sit in silent contemplation, you will only be passing idle time because you are isolated from the road of the mind-monkey and idea-horse." The 1699 Kabuki

Kabuki

is classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers.The individual kanji characters, from left to right, mean sing , dance , and skill...

play Wakoku gosuiten 和国五翠殿 "Japan's Five Green Palaces" repeatedly used ibashin'en. For instance, the first act described two prisoners tied to a tree: "They are the idea-horse and mind-monkey themselves. So if this pine tree is the pole of Absolute Reality, then these two prisoners are a greedy monkey – no, a cat – and a horse running wild; and they are just like the idea-horse and mind-monkey."

"Mind-monkey" in English

Mind monkey and monkey mind both occur in English usage, originally as translations of xinyuan or shin'en and later as culturally-independent images. Michael Carr concludes,

Xinyuan-yima 心猿意馬 "monkey of the heart/mind and horse of the ideas/will" has been a successful metaphor. What began 1500 years ago as a Buddhist import evolved into a standard Chinese and Japanese literary phrase. Rosenthal (1989:361) says a proverb's success "'depends on certain imponderables," particularly rhythm and phrasing. Of the two animals in this metaphor, the "monkey" phrase was stronger than the "horse" because xinyuan "mind-monkey" was occasionally used alone (e.g., Wuzhenpian) and it had more viable variants (e.g., qingyuan 情猿 "emotion-monkey" in Ci'en zhuan). The "mental-monkey" choice of words aptly reflects restlessness, curiosity, and mimicry associated with this animal. Dudbridge (1970:168) explains how "the random, uncontrollable movements of the monkey symbolise the waywardness of the native human mind before it achieves a composure which only Buddhist discipline can effect." (1993:166)

Translations

English translations of Chinese xinyuan or Japanese shin'en commonly include "mind monkey", "monkey mind", and "monkey of the mind".

This first list (expanded from Carr 1993:179, Table 5 Chinese-English Translation Equivalents) compares how 11 bilingual Chinese dictionaries translate xinyuanyima 心猿意馬 and yimaxinyuan 意馬心猿.

【意馬心猿】 his will is like a horse's, and his heart like an ape's; inconstant and strong (A Syllabic Dictionary of the Chinese Language, Williams 1874)
【心猿意馬】 gibbon heart and horse ideas, – unsettled and wandering (A Chinese–English Dictionary, Giles 1919)
【心猿意馬】 irresolute; vacillating; fluctuating ... Inconstant; fickle in the mind (A Complete Chinese–English Dictionary, Tsang 1920, cf. next)
【意馬心猿】 Unsettled in mind; fluctuating; wavering in purpose (A Complete Chinese–English Dictionary)
【意馬心猿】The intents of the mind and heart are like the horse and ape – very difficult to bring under control; undecided (Zhonghua Han-Ying dacidian, Lu 1931, cf. next)
【心猿意馬】 Restless and unsettled (Zhonghua Han-Ying dacidian)
【心猿意馬】 the intents of the mind and heart are like the horse and the ape – very difficult to bring under control; undecided (Mathews' Chinese–English Dictionary, Mathews 1943)
【心猿意馬】 cannot make up one's mind; indecision; procrastination (A New Practical Chinese- English Dictionary, Liang 1971)
【心猿意馬】 prone to outside attractions, temptations; in a restless and jumpy mood (Lin Yutang's Chinese–English Dictionary of Modern Usage 1972)
【心猿意馬】 restless and whimsical; fanciful and fickle; capricious (The Chinese–English Dictionary, Beijing 1979)
【心猿意馬】 in a restless and jumpy mood / capricious (A New Chinese–English Dictionary, Ding 1985)
【心猿意馬】 restless and whimsical; fanciful and fickle; capricious; when one meant gibbon, he thinks of a horse (A Modern Chinese–English Dictionary, Beijing 1988)
【心猿意馬】 ① capricious; restless ② indecisive (The ABC Chinese–English Dictionary, DeFrancis 1996, cf. next)
【意馬心猿】 indecisive; wavering (The ABC Chinese–English Dictionary)

Six of these 11 Chinese–English dictionaries enter only the common xinyuanyima "mind-monkey idea-horse," 2 only the reverse yimaxinyuan, and 3 enter both. Three translation equivalents give English "ape" rather than "gibbon" or "monkey" for yuan 猿, and "ape" sounds metaphorically stronger than "monkey." Note how several of these dictionaries have identical translations.

This second list (expanded from Carr 1993:179, Table 7 Japanese-English Translation Equivalents) compares how 9 bilingual Japanese dictionaries

Japanese dictionaries

Japanese dictionaries have a history that began over 1300 years ago when Japanese Buddhist priests, who wanted to understand Chinese sutras, adapted Chinese character dictionaries. Present-day Japanese lexicographers are exploring computerized editing and electronic dictionaries...

translate ibashin'en 意馬心猿, none enters shin'en'iba 心猿意馬.

【意馬心猿】 Clamorous demands of passion (Takenobu's Japanese–English Dictionary, Takenobu 1918)
【意馬心猿】 overmastering passion (A Standard Japanese–English Dictionary, Takehara 1924)
【意馬心猿】Passions hard of control; uncontrollable passions (Saito's Japanese–English Dictionary, Saito 1930)
【意馬心猿】Clamorous demands of passion; [uncontrollable] passions (Kenkyusha's New Japanese–English Dictionary, Takenobu 1931)
【意馬心猿】 clamorous demands of passion; [uncontrollable] passions; wild horses of passions and flighty monkeys of desires (Kenkyusha's New Japanese–English Dictionary, Katsumata 1954)
【意馬心猿】 uncontrollable passions (The Modern Reader's Japanese-English Character Dictionary, Nelson 1974)
【意馬心猿】 clamorous demands of passion; (uncontrollable) passions (Kenkyusha's New Japanese–English Dictionary, Masuda 1974)
【意馬心猿】 (uncontrollable) passions (Japanese Character Dictionary, Spahn and Hadamitzky 1989)
【意馬心猿】 the clamorous demands of passion; (uncontrollable) passions (Kenkyusha's New Japanese–English Dictionary, Watanabe 2003)

All 9 Japanese–English dictionaries mention "passion" or "passions." Note how Saito's "uncontrollable passions" first appeared in 1930 and was copied into 6 other dictionaries. The 5 editions of Kenkyūsha's New Japanese–English Dictionary illustrate lexicographical modifications. Editors copied the "clamorous demands of passion" phrase from the 1st edition (Takenobu's … 1918) into all the subsequent versions. The 2nd (1931) first added "uncontrollable" to "passions," which was copied in later editions. The 3rd edition (1954) included a literal translation "wild horses of passions and flighty monkeys of desires", but this was omitted from the 4th (1974) and 5th (2003, which added the definite article

Definite Article

Definite Article is the title of British comedian Eddie Izzard's 1996 performance released on VHS. It was recorded on different nights at the Shaftesbury Theatre...

"the").

Popular culture

Examples of "mind monkey" are predictably common in Chinese popular culture

Popular culture

Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...

. For instance, Sam yuen yi ma 心猿意馬 – the Cantonese pronunciation of Xinyuanyima "mind-monkey will-horse" – was a 1999 Hong Kong movie (known in English as "The Accident") by Stanley Kwan

Stanley Kwan

Stanley Kwan is a Hong Kong Second Wave film director and producer.Kwan landed a job at the TVB after receiving a mass communications degree at Hong Kong Baptist College...

. However, examples of "mind monkey" are surprisingly widespread in modern English culture. For instance, there are blog

Blog

A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...

s named "Mind Monkey!", "Mind of the Monkey", "Monkey Mind", and "No monkey mind".

In English-language publishing, fewer books are titled with "mind monkey", such as Master the Mind Monkey (Patkar 2007), than "monkey mind". "Taming" is common among Taming the Monkey Mind (Chodron 1999), Taming the Monkey Mind; A Guide to Pure Land Practice (Cheng 2000), and Taming Our Monkey Mind: Insight, Detachment, Identity (Krystal 2007). Other examples of book titles include Samba and the Monkey Mind (Williams 1965), Meeting the Monkey Halfway (Sumano and Popp 2000), Your Monkey Mind Connection (Antoinette 2007), and Still the Monkey (Alivia 2007).

The originally Buddhist "mind monkey" metaphor is also known in popular English-language music. "Mad Melancholy Monkey Mind" is a band. There are albums entitled "Mind Monkey" (Bill Foreman 1999), "Monkey Mind" (Wonder Stump, 2003), and "Monkey Mind Control" (Jay Roulston 2003). Song titles include "The Monkey on the Mind" (Dave Wilkerson 1960) and "Monkey Mind" (Neil Rolnick

Neil Rolnick

Neil B. Rolnick is an American composer and educator living in New York City.Rolnick's compositions have appeared on 16 records and CDs...

2003).

External links

Go ahead, lose your mind – 'monkey mind' that is, March 14, 2008, Business First.
THE COMPLETE 'MONKEY', May 9, 2008, The New York Times", David Lattimore
Quieting the Monkey Mind, Ann Pizer
MonkeyMind, free software from Inner Peace
Coping with thought during meditation, Gordon L. Smith
Monkey Mind & Horse Will, Muho Noelke
Muho Noelke
is a German Zen master. Presently, he is the abbot of Antai-ji, a Japanese Soto Zen temple. He has translated works of Dōgen and Kōdō Sawaki, and has authored two books of his own....

意馬心猿文様, Imari porcelain
Imari porcelain
Imari porcelain is the name for Japanese porcelain wares made in the town of Arita, in the former Hizen Province, northwestern Kyūshū. They were exported to Europe extensively from the port of Imari, Saga between latter half of 17th century and former half of 18 th century, Japanese as well as the...

pattern of "will-horse mind-monkey" from Wakoku gosuiten, Kyushu Ceramic Museum
Kyushu Ceramic Museum
The is a ceramics museum located in Arita town, Saga Prefecture, Japan.The museum was built to contribute to the local cultural heritage, and the development of ceramics and pottery culture throughout Kyūshū, southern Japan...

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