Mind monkey or monkey mind, from Chinese xinyuan and Sino-Japanese shin'en 心猿, is a Buddhist term meaning "unsettled; restless; capricious; whimsical; fanciful; inconstant; confused; indecisive; uncontrollable". In addition to Buddhist writings, including Chan or Zen, Consciousness-only, Pure Land, and Shingon, this "mind-monkey" psychological metaphor was adopted in Daoism, Neo-Confucianism, poetry, drama, and literature. "Mind-monkey" occurs in two reversible four-character idioms with yima or iba 意馬, most frequently used in Chinese xinyuanyima 心猿意馬 and Japanese ibashin'en 意馬心猿. The "Monkey King" Sun Wukong in the Journey to the West personifies the mind-monkey. Note that much of the following summarizes Carr (1993).
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... Mind monkey or monkey mind, from Chinese xinyuan and Sino-Japanese shin'en 心猿, is a Buddhist term meaning "unsettled restless capricious whimsical fanciful inconstant ... or Zen, Consciousness-only, Pure Land, and Shingon, this "mind-monkey" psychological metaphor was adopted in Daoism, Neo-Confucianism, poetry, drama, and literature ... Mind-monkey" occurs in two reversible four-character idioms with yima or iba 意馬, most frequently used in Chinese xinyuanyima 心猿意馬 and Japanese ibashin'en ...
... 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 ... 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 ...
... English translations of Chinese xinyuan or Japanese shin'en commonly include "mind monkey", "monkey mind", and "monkey of the mind" ... 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 ...
... Examples of "mind monkey" are predictably common in Chinese popular culture ... 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 ... However, examples of "mind monkey" are surprisingly widespread in modern English culture ...
Famous quotes containing the words monkey and/or mind:
“An old monkey never makes a pretty face.”
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