Chapter 11: The monkeys that dared to sneak into the Presidential Palace and the monkey brain banquet

The monkeys that dared to sneak into the Presidential Palace and the monkey brain banquet

86 articles,

Can those who are frightened to death by difficulties still be considered human?

Liu Guozong

French writer Du La Si once told such a story: In eastern France there is a small town; this small town lies beside a highway, and beside that highway stands a dilapidated scrap car shed. Inside that shed lives a poor family that scrapes a living by picking up rubbish. One day the man of the family went out to scavenge. The woman stayed home watching their two children, aged four and one. It was midsummer, and the children were so thirsty they wailed nonstop, because they had not paid their water bill and the tap water had been shut off by the water company. The husband had not yet returned; where could they fetch water for the children to drink? In that dark corner there was also a heap of dirty laundry, also unwashed for lack of water, sitting in a basin.

The woman was fed up.

The water company's debt collector came again to demand payment, and threatened her, saying: "If you still don't pay the water bill, not only will we not supply water, we will also sue you in court."

The woman cried. She cried so sorrowfully: "How did our family become this poor?"

Seeing the poor woman cry, the water company's debt collector left. At that moment, the woman's husband returned, dragging his exhausted body. When he understood why his wife was crying, he neither comforted her nor tried to find a solution. This worthless man merely shed silent tears. Then the man and woman held each other's heads and cried for a while. At this point they were utterly desperate.

"Place oneself in a deadly situation and then live"—if they thought that way it would be good. At this moment, if they tried to use their own hands to earn money, or asked friends for help, borrowed some money to open a scrap recycling station, using their own diligence and wisdom, perhaps they could still manage. But this worthless couple, instead of thinking that way, in their extreme despair actually lay down on the railway tracks with their two children……

What ignorant, foolish man and woman, otherwise good people, actually were scared to death by difficulties. Can those who are frightened to death by difficulties still be considered human?

Then I recalled the Robinson Crusoe in Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. That is a true person, a true man. He set out alone to know the world and to venture into the world, unexpectedly drifting onto a deserted island. This is an island cut off from the world, uninhabited.

On this deserted island, aside from some unnamed trees and unnamed grasses, there were only the wild beasts that occasionally roamed. As for Robinson Crusoe, aside from his brave, fearless heart and a pair of diligent hands, he had nothing. Faced with immense adversity, Robinson Crusoe was not pessimistic, not disappointed, and certainly not despairing. He said these classic lines: "I will do my utmost; as long as I can still row, I will not let myself drown; as long as I can still stand, I will not fall." Robinson Crusoe, with this "not falling" spirit, relied on his own diligent hands, after enduring countless hardships, relying on his passion to create heaven and earth, created his own "little kingdom".

I truly admire his spirit of "my temperament is such that once I decide to do something, I will not let go unless I succeed." With the spirit of "not giving up until success," what is there to fear about poverty? In the end he had a ship, bread to eat, a plantation, a pasture, two dwellings… thereby changing his circumstances and also his fate.

87 articles,

The monkeys that dared to sneak into the Presidential Palace and the monkey brain banquet

Liu Guozong

According to scholar Ji Xianlin, the Sun Wukong in one of China's Four Great Classics, Journey to the West, who can make demons and monsters tremble with fear, is the prototype of the Hindu deity Hanuman, one of Hinduism's great gods (this is probably only Ji Xianlin's speculation). Ji Xianlin's basis for this speculation is mainly that the Sun Wukong in Wu Cheng'en's writing and the Hindu god Hanuman can both ride clouds and mist, perform magic, and both represent justice and goodness triumphing over evil, but this far from proves that the prototype of Sun Wukong in Wu Cheng'en's Journey to the West was modeled after the Hindu god Hanuman. Wu Cheng'en was a Buddhist, and this also cannot lead to doubting that Wu Cheng'en, when creating Journey to the West, consulted the description of Hanuman in the Indian epic Ramayana; moreover, India is the source of Buddhism, and the Buddha is in India, which perhaps is Ji Xianlin's basis for this speculation.

But perhaps Professor Ji overlooked that Indian cultural notions and Chinese cultural notions are utterly different; Indians are extremely pious toward gods and spirits. Indians believe many animals are incarnations of natural forces, and they should be cared for and cherished. Even an ant underfoot they cannot bear to step on, believing that even the tiniest thing is created by God and has space and reason to exist. Humans must not bully the weak with strength. In the Indian view, some animals are greater than humans and more worthy of respect. Therefore, in India almost every household can be seen enshrining a monkey deity image. Enshrining such an image, someone will surely say this is too foolish, an act that can never be imitated. But no matter how one puts it, this in some respects shows that Indians regard animals as equal to humans.

Here is an example to illustrate: Around New Delhi in India, ancient trees tower, grass and foliage flourish, it is

A paradise for birds, a playground for monkeys. Indians revere monkeys as deities and love them extra. These monkeys, who know no good or bad, often sneak into the Presidential Palace or other government officials' offices to steal fruit and such food. Sometimes when they cannot find fruit, they tear up or take away the confidential state documents on the officials' desks. As for this, Indian officials have never issued any harsh measures against the monkeys.

These Indians really are a bit too "that". In our China we would absolutely not indulge and tolerate monkeys to such an extent. In Chinese eyes, monkeys are merely animals for play. Even the mighty Sun Wukong, nobody takes him seriously, let alone his descendants. People lead them around to make money, tease them to play. If they don't obey, there are whips and sticks aimed at them. Otherwise, they would skin them, or even eat them alive.

A few years ago, there was a ruthless boss who opened a restaurant serving live monkey brains. These ruthless bosses, in order to make a fortune, came up with an absolutely brilliant idea: the ruthless boss digs a hole in the middle of the table just big enough to insert a monkey's head; before eating, they pull the monkey's head out through the hole onto the tabletop, fix it in place so it cannot move at all. Then they smash open the monkey's skull, and the diners who eat monkey brain sit around the table, spoon in hand, scooping out the brain bite by bite while drinking alcohol. The monkey's miserable howls become the delightful music to the diners' monkey-brain feast; the cruelty is so extreme it is hard to watch. What wickedness, what atrocity in the world goes undone? If there really were a Sun Wukong, those ruthless bosses who earn fortunes by extreme means, and those cruel diners gathered around the table eating monkey brains, Old Sun's golden hooped staff would pound them into pulp.

Eating raw monkey brains is shocking to hear, unprecedented, a strange tale both ancient and modern; this might be a "clear patent" of some ruthless bosses in Guangdong. "Heaven and humanity as one" is a virtue in Confucian thought. Only when humanity lives in harmony with nature can humanity survive and develop. A few years ago, the "**" that spread in Guangdong and elsewhere—was it a punishment and warning against those who open monkey-brain restaurants and those who are angered by eating monkey brains? If Indians knew that in Guangdong, China, there are ruthless people who run monkey-brain restaurants and those who eat monkey brains, they would surely say: "These people are too dark, their conscience utterly corrupt."