steve_bank
Diabetic retinopathy and poor eyesight. Typos ...
There are plenty of metaphors for psychology in Buddhism. Monkey mind is that chattering screeching monkey inside always trying to figure a way out of its cage. Trying to get out and swing from thought to thought.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_monk
Mind monkey or monkey mind, from Chinese 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, Consciousness-only, Pure Land, and Shingon, this "mind-monkey" psychological metaphor was adopted in Taoism, Neo-Confucianism, poetry, drama, and literature. "Mind-monkey" occurs in two reversible four-character idioms 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 in the Journey to the West personifies the mind-monkey. Note that much of the following summarizes Carr (1993).
https://www.pocketmindfulness.com/understanding-monkey-mind-live-harmony-mental-companion/
You might imagine that each thought is a branch, and you, or at least the attention of your conscious mind, is indeed a monkey, swinging from thought-branch to thought-branch all day long.
This might sound like it might be fun, but in our troubled human way the thoughts that are often in our minds are concerned with the fears and pressures of life:
What will happen if I lose my job? I wonder if my partner might be unhappy with our relationship?
What if I don’t have enough money when I retire?
Irrational fears perhaps, but made real by our own constant attention. How infuriating and exhausting it becomes.
The Buddha, who coined the word some two and a half millennia ago, termed this mental state “Kapicitta.”
Of course, he defined it best when he said; ‘Just as a monkey swinging through the trees grabs one branch and lets it go only to seize another, so too, that which is called thought, mind or consciousness arises and disappears continually both day and night
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_monk
Mind monkey or monkey mind, from Chinese 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, Consciousness-only, Pure Land, and Shingon, this "mind-monkey" psychological metaphor was adopted in Taoism, Neo-Confucianism, poetry, drama, and literature. "Mind-monkey" occurs in two reversible four-character idioms 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 in the Journey to the West personifies the mind-monkey. Note that much of the following summarizes Carr (1993).
https://www.pocketmindfulness.com/understanding-monkey-mind-live-harmony-mental-companion/
You might imagine that each thought is a branch, and you, or at least the attention of your conscious mind, is indeed a monkey, swinging from thought-branch to thought-branch all day long.
This might sound like it might be fun, but in our troubled human way the thoughts that are often in our minds are concerned with the fears and pressures of life:
What will happen if I lose my job? I wonder if my partner might be unhappy with our relationship?
What if I don’t have enough money when I retire?
Irrational fears perhaps, but made real by our own constant attention. How infuriating and exhausting it becomes.
The Buddha, who coined the word some two and a half millennia ago, termed this mental state “Kapicitta.”
Of course, he defined it best when he said; ‘Just as a monkey swinging through the trees grabs one branch and lets it go only to seize another, so too, that which is called thought, mind or consciousness arises and disappears continually both day and night