"Monkey Mind" in Meditation

Michael Carr; CC Liu, Pat Macpherson, Seth Auberon, Wisdom Quarterly (Wiki edit)

What's monkey mind? Hold on a second, I'll look on Wisdom Quarterly (Huffington Post).

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Obsessed with sexy distractions (Uhohbro).

Monkey mind (or mind monkey) comes from the Chinese word xinyuan and the Sino-Japanese shin'en (心猿), literally, "heart-/mind-monkey").

It is a Buddhist term meaning "restless, unsettled, capricious, whimsical, fanciful, inconstant, confused, indecisive, uncontrollable." In addition to Buddhist writings -- including Chinese Chan and Japanese Zen (two Mahayana sects giving their pronunciations of the Pali term jhan'a and the Sanskrit dhyan'a), Consciousness-Only, Pure Land, and Shingon -- this "monkey mind" 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), literally, "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 Michael Carr ("'Mind-Monkey' Metaphors in Chinese and Japanese Dictionaries," International Journal of Lexicography 1993, 6.3:149-180). 

Linguistic and cultural background

Mind monkey piggy backs on horse idea (Tang Dynasty)

"Mind-monkey" (心猿) is an animal metaphor. Some figures of speech are cross-linguistically common, verging upon being linguistic universals.

Many languages use "monkey" or "ape" words to mean "mimic," for instance, Italian scimmiottare "to mock, to mimic" and scimmia "monkey, ape," Japanese sarumane (猿真似), literally, "monkey imitation," "copycat, superficial imitation," and the English monkey see, monkey do or to ape. Other animal metaphors have culture-specific meanings. Compare English chickenhearted as "cowardly, timid," "easily frightened" and Chinese jixin (雞心), literally, "chicken heart," "heart-shaped, cordate."

 

The four morphological 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"

Mr. Simian! - No, I just meant a pony ride on the "will horse," not us horsing around!

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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 心 was graphically simplified from an original pictogram of a heart and 意 "thought, think" is an ideogram 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 citta "mind, process of 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 glosses:

• 心 "Spirit, motive, sense. The mind as the seat of intelligence, mentality, idea. (Sanskrit citta)... Thought, intellect, feeling (Sanskrit mānasa)"
• 意 "Thought, intellect (Sanskrit manas, Tibetan yid), the mind, (Sanskrit citta, Tibetan sems)."

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

 

The Abhidharma theory uses this word as a general term for "mind, mentality." But Yogacara's theory of Eight Consciousnesses distinguishes xin/shin (心) "store consciousness," yi/i (意) "manas consciousness," and shi/shiki (識) "six object-contingent consciousnesses."

 

Xinyuanyima (心猿意馬), literally, "mind-monkey idea-horse," "distracted, indecisive, restless" is comparable with some other Chinese collocations:

• 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"...

"Mind-monkey" in English

Prozac (fluoride) calcifies the pineal gland

Monkey mind and mind monkey both occur in English usage, originally as translations of xinyuan or shin'en and later as culturally-independent images. 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 naive human mind before it achieves a composure which only Buddhist discipline can effect" (1993:166). More

What is mind? What is consciousness?

Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly (COMMENTARY)

No one has to lose his or her head wondering where "mind" is (MaretH/flickr.com)

"God made Man, but he used a Monkey to do it. Apes in the plan, we're all here to prove it"

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The brain starts at the base of the spine

Does Buddhism have an answer? The Dharmic religions are very interested in "mind," which is roughly the equivalent of heart, the seat of consciousness. We think the brain is the mind, but it is not. The base of physical base of consciousness was not spelled out by the Buddha precisely the way the other senses were. Buddhism acknowledges six senses, mind being the sixth.

 

Mike, a living headless chicken (MTHC)

But it is pretty certain, and individually verifiable, that the "mind door" is near the are of the physical heart not up in the head. If anyone considers the matter for a moment, it becomes obvious that the entire body is conscious -- informed by a gut feeling, a broken heart, a mild headache, a strange tingling feeling, and so on -- all playing a part in what we are conscious of at any moment and what we feel about it; "thought" is a minor part.

A powerful placebo

For example, few people have been told that there are many neurons -- "brain" cells -- in the lining of the gut and in the heart. But we walk around all "scientifically minded" thinking neurons are somehow exclusive to the brain, up in the head, limited to the cranium. Neurons, ganglia, axons, and all that hardware extends down the brainstem into the spine innervating every part of the conscious body. We don't need a brain to live; a brainstem is enough -- ask anyone with microencephaly. We sure do need a heart. Some cruel/greedy humans chop off the head of chickens to sell their bodies and are surprised that they live on. Ask Mike, you know, Mike the Headless Chicken.

I'm not a monkey! My doctor takes them, too!

We are all taught, mostly by long winded drug commercials that depression, anxiety, and other mood disorders are due to "imbalances" in our neurotransmitters (actually, that's at least as much of an effect as a cause in the feedback loop of the body), but what we are rarely if ever told is that most of these transmitters are in other parts of the body. Case in point, if one has a section of the colon removed for whatever reason, one is almost certain to come down with severe clinical depression. Yet, look how we treat our beautiful colons. Why would that be? It's the brain in the gut, the brain in the heart, the brain in the glands -- the rolled up gut, which is 23 feet long, has a lot of braincells.

However, of all the sages of India and Vedic Indus Valley Civilization, no one went further in detailing the "mind," consciousness, software, mental processes, and mental concomitants (cittas and cetasikas) than the Buddha. It is what the entire Abhidharma (the "Higher or Ultimate Teachings") is about -- one third of the Dharma alongside the conventional sutras and the monastic disciplinary code.
 

Mind is more complicated than a clock.

So what is "monkey mind"? Try to meditate and you, too, will find out in about a minute. But, first of all, What is MIND?

The individual (let's say the gandhabba or Sanskrit gandharva) is body and mind, the physical-psychological process of becoming, of phenomenal conditioned-existence, the world, the process of perception. The Buddha outlined this as a conglomeration of eight impersonal heaps called the Five Aggregates. (I thought you said eight? Yes, the first four are collapsed into one category simply called "form").

"Mind" in Buddhism is defined as the remaining four categories: feelings, perceptions, formations, and consciousnesses (viññāna). All of these are plural because they are heaps, aggregates, countless discrete units within each category, always changing, always impersonal, always unsatisfactory.

• The Abhidharma distinguishes 89 classes of consciousness

Clinging -- to ego, notions of self, soul, eternal existence, selfishness, possessions, likes and dislikes, strong preferences, sensual pleasures, and so on -- occurs because of this illusory separate "being" or personality which arises dependent on causes and conditions, nutriments. What are the causes and conditions? They are explained in the meditation on Dependent Origination as 12 causal links to be contemplated, penetrated, and experienced for liberation.

Shut up, monkeys are cool! - the Beebs

Traditionally, in Buddhist instruction, early teachers noted that just as a monkey going wild in a tree grasps one branch and before letting go of it is grasping at another so, too, the meditator barely gets done with one line of thought and s/he's onto another. This is called discursive thinking, a great impediment to calm and insight IF we identify with it. Just let it be. There is no reason to try to stop it; it is usually enough to detach enough by becoming an observer. It really is ridiculous and like a chattering, clambering, confused monkey, full of frenzy, restless, and craving constant stimulation and/or entertainment.

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Five Causes of "Monkey Mind"

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Vens. Nyanatiloka, Nyanaponika

"Monkey mind" is mental frenzy brought on by the Five Hindrances (patheos.com)

Successful meditation is greatly hampered by monkey mind (Bliss Blog/Beliefnet.com)

 

Shut up, shut up, shut up (childhoodrelived.com)

Normally, we do not notice that the mind/heart is constantly swinging from branch to branch in a ceaseless frenzy seeking entertainment. Like cartwheels and kaleidoscopes, "More and more stimuli!" it demands. "A constant flow of new and novel stimulation!" it insists in fits and tantrums, pulling on its hairy bootstraps to yank itself from the peril of the doldrums.

But when we sit in an attempt to meditate, then it becomes crystal clear: This mind is no sane, serene human mind. It is like a wild monkey!

If we were to be with what is...monkey mind?

This is a common experience for new meditators -- and a frustrating reality for seasoned meditators as well. Approaching the cushion is like visiting a zoo. So what to do? Many antidotes are provided by the Buddha in various sutras.

However, what is the cause, what is at the root of all this monkeying around in distraction, frustration, desperation with the doors of the senses unguarded? There are five causes that hinder and obstruct the heart/mind preventing serenity and insight:

1. sense desire (craving for sensuality)
2. aversion (anger, annoyance, fear)
3. sloth and torpor (boredom and sleepiness)
4. restlessness and remorse (flurry and worry)
5. skeptical doubt (uncertainty and wavering).

Hear no Kardashian, see no Kardashian, speak no Kardashian (not even Kendall and Kylie)

 

Solutions

Let go. Monkey mind is a monkey trap

The antidotes are replacing them with their opposites, substituting for example doubt with confidence/trust or craving desire with renunciation.

This can be accomplished by focusing on the harm done when they are allowed to hinder the heart/mind. Then there is a natural withdrawal. One becomes dispassionate, lets go, and no longer takes an interest in these obsessions. However, this release is only temporary, possibly lasting the entire meditation period.

Not all "meditation" is a sitting session, even if that tends to be the most intensive period of practice, of walking the path the Buddha pointed out as the way to ultimate freedom. 

The overcoming of these Five Hindrances by the meditative absorptions (jhanas) is a way of temporarily suspending them. Such an achievement will make one seem and feel very "saintly" (and, indeed, this is how most of the world's religions define sainthood as it sometimes entails miraculous powers). For purified in heart, mentally clear and at peace, one's conduct is full of effortless restraint. But this is called "overcoming through repression" (vikkhambhana-pahāna).

These obstructive hindrances disappear forever only when we enter the noble or supermundane paths (and become nobly enlightened individuals. Skeptical doubt (misgivings about whether this is the path to enlightenment) vanishes when we reach stream entry. Craving sense desires, aversion, and worry vanish on reaching non-returning. Sloth, torpor, and restlessness vanish when we become arhats.

• More info about their origination and how to overcome them: AN I, 2; VI, 21; SN XLVI, 51

The Five Mental Hindrances

Ven. Nyanaponika (BPS.lk, Wheel #26) edited by Wisdom Quarterly

"Without having overcome these five, it is impossible for a meditator, whose insight thus lacks strength and power, to know one's own true good, the good of others, or the good of both. Nor will a person be capable of realizing that superhuman state of distinctive achievement, the knowledge and vision enabling the attainment of full enlightenment.

 

"But if one has overcome these five hindrances and impediments, these overgrowths of the mind/heart that stultify insight -- then it is possible that, with strong insight, a meditator can know one's own true good, the good of others, and the good of both. And one will be capable of realizing that superhuman state of distinctive achievement, the knowledge and vision enabling the attainment of full enlightenment (AN 5:51).

"One whose heart is overwhelmed by unrestrained covetousness will do what one ought not do and neglect what one ought to do.

"And through that, one's good name and one's happiness will come to ruin.
 
"One whose heart is [further] overwhelmed by aversion... sloth and torpor... restlessness and remorse... skeptical doubt will do what one ought not do and neglect what one ought to do. And through that, one's good name and one's happiness will come to ruin.
 

"But if a noble disciple has seen these FIVE as defilements of the heart/mind, one will give them up. And by doing so, one is regarded as one of great wisdom, of abundant insight, clear-seeing, well endowed with wisdom. This is called "endowment with wisdom" (AN 4:61). More

Five Bonds of Desire: Monkey Mind (sutra)

Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly translation based on Makkata Sutta by Andrew Olendzki, "The Foolish Monkey" (SN 47.7)

"Monkey mind" is mental frenzy brought on by the Five Hindrances (patheos.com)

A monkey with a foolish and greedy nature will soon be ensnared (childhoodrelived.com).

 

On Himavat, king of mountains (the personification of the Himalayas), there is rugged and uneven land where neither monkeys nor humans wander.
 
And on Himavat there is rugged and uneven land where monkeys indeed wander, whereas humans do not.
 
And on Himavat there is a level stretch of land, quite pleasing, where both monkeys and humans wander.

There a hunter set a sticky trap on trails used by monkeys in order to ensnare them. Some monkeys there were foolish by nature, but not greedy. Seeing the trap, they stayed away.

The burnt nose she-monkey (motifake.com)

But there was one monkey who was both foolish and greedy by nature. He went up to the trap and grabbed it with his hand. His hand got stuck there. "I'll free my hand!" he thought. And he grabbed it with his other hand. It got stuck there.

Thinking "I'll free both hands!" he grabbed it with his foot. It got stuck there. "I'll free both hands and a foot!" he thought. So he grabbed it with his other foot. It got stuck there.

"I'll free both hands," he thought, "and both feet!" He grabbed it with his snout. It got stuck there.
 
Now that monkey, ensnared in five ways, lays down and howls. He has fallen into trouble, fallen into ruin, for now the hunter can do with him as he pleases. Not releasing the monkey, the hunter skewers him then picks him up and goes off with him. This is what happens to those who wander beyond their range, in the sphere of others.

Therefore, meditators, wander not beyond your range, in the sphere of others. Wandering there, Mara (the killer, the corrupter, obstacle to enlightenment and liberation, the personification of death) will gain access, will gain a foothold.

Whoa, you're skating on thin ice, boss! - What? I'm just monkeying around, worker.

  
Beyond one's range
And what, for a meditator, is beyond one's range, the sphere of others? The five strands of sense desire are. What are the five?

1. forms discerned with the eye -- appealing, pleasurable, yearned for, and lusted after
2. sounds discerned with the ear...
3. fragrances discerned with the nose...
4. flavors discerned with the tongue...
5. touches discerned with the body -- appealing, pleasurable, yearned for, and lusted after. 

These, for a meditator, are beyond the range, in the sphere of others. Wander within your proper range, in your natural sphere. Then Mara will not gain access, will not gain a foothold.
 

The range of meditators

What, for a meditator, is within range, in one's natural sphere? The Four Foundations of Mindfulness are. What are the four? Here [in this Dharma and Discipline], meditators:

1. One abides observing body as body -- ardent, mindful, clearly aware, leading away from unhappiness and worldly concerns.
2. One abides observing sensations as sensations...
3. One abides observing mind as mind...
4. One abides observing mental phenomena as mental phenomena -- ardent, mindful, clearly aware, leading away from unhappiness and worldly concerns. 

These, for a meditator, are within range, in one's natural sphere.
 

Commentary
Andrew Olendzki (edited by Wisdom Quarterly)

Andrew Olendzki (dowling.edu)

This cautionary tale does not end well for the monkey. Fables like the adventures of Curious George deal with foolish monkeys.

The story is taken from the collection of discourses which discuss the Foundations of Mindfulness (Satipatthana Samyutta), the root teachings of the insight (vipassana) meditation tradition. The message has to do with applying "wise attention" (yoniso manasikara), changing one's frame of reference through which we  receive and process sense experience.
 
If we give our attention to the appeal of the pleasure that accompanies sensory experience (the sticky tar trap), we are necessarily caught by the object of perception. There can be no freedom of mind/heart, because we are subtly and usually unconsciously yearning for more gratification. Instead of satisfying our desires, such experience merely stirs up more desire. We take it as normal, so we seek satisfaction of sense desires by pursuing pleasure in the realms of the senses.
 
The intensive-meditative and monastic ideal that shaped early Buddhism involves a different way of relating to experience. The idea is not that monastics avoided or ignored sense data -- which is hardly possible when all of our sensory experience passes through these gateways. Rather, the instruction is about not getting ensnared by our craving for sense pleasures. Sense data itself is not harmful, but the sweetness of pleasure wrapping each sense ensnares us when we are overtaken by our "foolish and greedy nature."
 
The different strategy is that an intensive-meditator wander in a more fruitful range, within the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, in the presence of equanimity. Insight meditation trains us to attend more dispassionately to alluring and annoying experience. When we simply observe with mindfulness and clear comprehension, we undermine what the hunter has set for us (i.e., Mara's trap). We are then able to overcome death and attain "deathlessness" (nirvana).

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"How to Clear Your Mind" (Allure Magazine)

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; Andy Puddicombe (GetSomeHeadspace.com), Brooke Le Poer Trench (Allure.com, Oct. 2013 issue); ilanadonna (video)

Mind racing? Focus on something concrete -- like the sensation of touching something.
 

"Insider's Guide," p. 142 (Oct. 2013 issue)

The former Buddhist monk Puddicombe cofounded Get Some Headspace and is the author of Get Some Headspace: How Mindfulness Can Change Your Life in Ten Minutes a Day.

Everyone feels overwhelmed at some point... But what is the most profitable way to respond? We can react -- follow patterns dictated by habit, neurosis, or social conditioning. We can also respond purposefully, try a new way of coping, enter upon a mindful solution.

The thing is, we would first have to be aware. And the habit of bare awareness with clear comprehension (sati-sampajañña) is not the habit most of us have been developing. But it is the  good habit the Buddha recommended on the path to enlightenment.

Even on the path to mundane success, mindfulness is useful. There is no such thing as too much mindfulness. In the development of five crucial factors for success in meditation, there can be too much confidence (faith), there can be too much wisdom. One should temper the other. There can be too much energy, there can be too much concentration. These, too, should be balanced, one by the other. 

Definition
But the fifth, this sati, which we translate as "mindfulness" (bare awareness, thoughtless awareness, nonjudgmental awareness, vigilance, diligence, wakefulness, nondistractedness, effortless mono-tasking, nonforgetfulness, remembering to remember, childlike presence of mind or beginner's mind, etc.), cannot be overdone.

• Mindfulness has a separate meaning with which it should not be confused. "Recollection" or active-contemplation is the "memory" or remembering/bringing to mind side of "mindfulness." It is the turning, thinking over, pensively considering or "rotating" a theme in mind. This rotation (ratiocination, cogitation) is the actual meaning of the English word "meditation." The Buddhist word we commonly translate as "meditation" is bhavana, which has the much broader meaning of cultivation, development, or literally "bringing into being." There are three other words that might better be translated as "meditation" in this older English language sense -- janeti (from jhana, getting to "absorption"), kammatthana (field to be cultivated or worked or acted upon, from kamma, karma, one's meditation subject or theme), and anussati (pondering, recollecting, contemplating, from anu = "scrutiny" + sati = "mindfulness," i.e., long consideration or "consideration all the way around"). More

One is aware-and-clear as one goes about one's day, as one sits on a meditation cushion, as one thumbs through Allure and gets to page 142. Mr. Andy Puddicombe explains the rest, showing how just 10 minutes of practice a day can change a life.

(US.Macmillan.com) A former Buddhist monk with over 10 years of teaching experience, Puddicombe has been acknowledged as the UK's foremost mindfulness meditation expert. Like so many of his students, he began his own meditation practice as an ordinary, "busy" person with everyday concerns. He has since designed a program that fits neatly into a jam-packed daily routine proving that just 10 minutes a day can make a world of difference.

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