Upaya in Monkey!
First, it is important to be clear what Upaya is. It
is a doctrine that allows the Buddha, or other wise teachers, to
pass on a lesson in a way that may appear to be deceptive,
because it takes into account the weak understanding of the
pupil. In his classic study of the concept, Skillful Means:
A Concept in Mahayana Buddhism (London: Duckworth, 1978),
Michael Pye explains that although explicit attention to Upaya
begins in Mahayana Buddhism, these later Buddhists were simply
giving a name to something that was already a feature of the
Buddha's teaching. So, when we look for examples of Upaya, we
expect to find a teacher passing on a lesson to a student, and
taking the student's weaknesses into account.
Some of you took Upaya to be any behavior that breaks the rules
where the ends justifies the means. For example, one student
said that when Monkey kills the thieves who are attacking him
and Tripitaka, this is Upaya. But Tripitaka clearly explains
that what Monkey is doing is wrong. After all, with all his
powers, Monkey could find a way to fend the robbers off without
killing them. At the end, what lessons are learned. One might
say that Monkey teaches the robbers a lesson, but he doesn't
help them attain enlightenment. (Of course, they will be reborn
with another opportunity to attain enlightenment, but Monkey was
not thinking about how to help them). This incident demonstrates
Monkey's weakness - he is too ready to fight - and, perhaps,
Tripitaka's lack of control over Monkey.
Once you understand what Upaya is, it is easy to find examples.
However, many of you seemed to think it was enough to give a few
examples of Upaya in the series, along with some basic
historical background, and your own reactions to the program -
what you liked and disliked. You are in a university now: more
is expected. Let me give a couple of examples of students who
found something more to say about Upaya in Monkey.
One student drew attention to issues of character development:
At first, she
(Buddha) tried to show him that heaven is not what he thought
it would be. Monkey didn't respond well to this action due to
his superiority issues. Later, the Buddha presented herself
directly to Monkey. Here, Monkey learns in a more direct way
that nothing is what it seems...With the third sign of Upaya,
the monk, I was able to appreciate a transformation in the way
Monkey King acted. The monk has some superiority over Monkey
King. The thing is, Monkey doesn't see it like this.
Therefore, he doesn't feel threatened by a superior being.
Because he has nothing to prove, Monkey starts to help the
Monk. When the house was burning down in episode two,
Tripitaka was saved by Monkey. At the beginning, he would have
just left.
Remember, the
Buddha who appears to Monkey as a woman is the Buddha
Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism. That's why he is Indian.
He chooses to appear as a woman because he judges that
Monkey needs gentle treatment. Monkey always has to be the
alpha male in any situation, so Buddha appears in a maternal
form. The pay-off comes when Monkey realizes he has urinated
on her hand - he might not feel so bad about treating a male
authority figure in that way. Tripitaka is a male character
played by a woman to emphasize his gentle nature. (The
translators of the television program call him a priest, but
he is really a monk). Although Tripitaka has a pure heart,
he is frequently fearful - on his first appearance, he
admits that he was as afraid as everyone else. By asking
Monkey to protect Tripitaka, Guan Yin allows him to play a
strong, masculine role. Monkey responds better to a gentle
figure of authority, who needs his help, than to a powerful
authority figure who imposes his will be force. Of course,
as the student also recognizes, Monkey is being deceived
here. The reality is that Buddha has the power all along,
and has delegated that power to Tripitaka by giving him the
crown. Think about what a great symbol that is. People
looking at Monkey will see it as a sign of his majesty - it
makes him look like a King. Nobody needs to know that it
actually makes Monkey a slave to Tripitaka, as long as
Monkey behaves well. As long as Monkey makes it look as
though he is obeying Tripataka voluntarily, because he chose
to serve this humble monk, people will think of him as a
powerful, independent individual, the image Monkey likes to
project. But if he tries to rebel against Tripitaka, people
will see what his true status is.
Another student focused on how the television show uses
skillful means on the audience. Here are two pertinent
observations:
Not forgetting
parents who are the ones who decide what their children
get to watch, the creators of the TV show used skillful
means to make the show something they could watch with
approval. Moral teachings are presented frequently, and
not as subtle ones that require analysis to comprehend,
but as pretty straightforward sentences stated by the
narrator constantly, which should eliminate a parent's
worries that his or her kids are watching dumb shows with
no educational value.
I can certainly
say that Mrs. Murphy was strict about what I could or
couldn't watch. I was allowed to watch Monkey
despite the violence. and the fact that the narrator was
there to disapprove of the violence may have been an
important factor. This kind of thinking takes us beyond
"I liked the show because of the music" or "I didn't
like the dubbing", and thinks instead in a sophisticated
way about the intended audience. I say "sophisticated",
because the student understands that parents act (or
should act) at gatekeepers to their children's viewing.
So, children watch because the show contains action and
adventure. Parents allow this, because the show's
narrator stresses the moral lessons - but do the
children really learn from what the narrator says? The
same student quoted a user on IMBD:
user
HORROR_Fan_1 from Liverpool wrote..."I won't explain
what it's about because it is too crazy. Just watch
it, it's the funniest series I think ever made. Rating
9/10. Fantastic for those who like watching a good
fight every episode!" The fact that most reviews say
basically the same thing and that that one had an
approval of 8 out of 11 votes serves as a summary of
what the Western world thinks of the show. Japanese
reviews are not available.
This is
great research. The students has formulated a clear
question: did the children who loved this show
really learn deep lessons about Buddhism, or did
they just enjoy the action and comedy? Then, he
finds a source of information that will reveal the
views of the show's English-speaking fan-base. In
this context, given the question "Why did children
enjoy watching the show?" IMDB counts as a primary
source. As well as quoting a review, he provides the
statistics that suggest this is a representative
opinion, not just a rogue voice. There is a further
question: did the show's original Japanese fans
think the same way? Perhaps people who were raised
in a Buddhist environment found their belief in
Buddhism reinforced. (Can you imagine a Catholic
equivalent of Monkey in Panama - perhaps St. Francis
has to help defeat a tribe of werewolves?) However,
the student cannot access information about the
Japanese fans. That's fine - you are freshers, you
have lots of assignments, I don't expect you to
teach yourself Japanese in order to complete this
assignment. What's good is that you know there is
more work that could be done, if you had the time,
and you indicate this.
Some students waste time by writing a paragraph
about how "I'm just a beginner, this is a difficult
subject, I tried hard to find what I could...."
Those general statements don't contribute very much
to a paper. What is good about the paragraph quoted
above is that it is precise about what can and
cannot be said. We understand the English-speaking
fans, but not the Japanese ones. Of course, if a
paper was just a long list of things you couldn't
find, that would be annoying, and it would make you
appear either lazy or incompetent. If you show
diligence in finding the sources that are available,
then it is acceptable for you to mention sources
that you cannot access.
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