The Magic of the Monkey King

The Fourth Way teaching is clear in stating that man doesn’t have will, unity, or self-awareness. Gurdjieff compares man with a house in which the master is absent and the servants are doing whatever they, like instead of doing their jobs.

All esoteric traditions speak about the idea that man has no unity. Yet this truth usually hides from view, though one can read about it in stories, metaphors, and parables.

In the 16^thcentury Chinese classical novel Journey to the West, the Monkey King symbolizes the steward. He uses his magic to change himself into the likeness of the monk Sanzang. His magic, of transforming himself into the likeness of someone, represents the steward’s ability to transform the many ‘I’s into self-awareness.

The Monkey King, 16th c. Chinese illustration

Taking the knife, the imitation Tang Priest cut the skin of his stomach open with the knife in his right hand. There was a whoosh, and out rolled a whole pile of hearts. The imitation Tang Priest then held up the hearts one by one, each dripping with blood, for all to see.

They included a loyal red heart, a pure white heart, a yellow heart, an avaricious heart, a fame-hungry heart, a jealous heart, a calculating heart, an over-competitive heart, an ambitious heart, an overbearing heart, a murderous heart, a vicious heart, a frightened heart, a cautious heart, a heretical heart, and a heart full of indefinable gloom. — Journey to the West

Losing Self-Awareness in Sleep

The many hearts represent the many emotions a man experiences. Emotions always happen to a person; people and events stimulate them in us. We cannot choose the emotions we want to experience. Our emotions are like the weather, sometimes it rains, sometimes the sun shines. The sincere desire to awaken from sleep, which issues from the king of hearts, is the most precious emotion a man can experience. Even though this desire may be very sincere, it still disappears behind the veil of the many ‘I’s that occur throughout one’s day.

Because we lose ourselves in the identification of the moment and focus on externals, we are not aware of ourselves.

Pyramid Cone

When awareness is applied to externals, its light does not return to the root; arbitrary feelings stir and true sense is obscured. When awareness is applied within, its light has returned to the root; the artificial changes into the real, the temperament dissolves and the true nature appears. Depending on whether awareness is internal or external, there is a difference between disparity and non-disparity, between unity and disunity. Practitioners of the Tao should turn their attention inward to nurture the light of awareness. — Liu Yiming, The Taoist I Ching, Mixed Hexagrams #38 Disparity and #37 Members of a family

Lacking the The Light of Awareness

‘The light of awareness returning to its root’ is an interesting expression. In our daily circumstances, our attention goes out to many things, but not to ourselves. As I am typing these words it is clear to me that, unless I make a specific effort to divide my attention, it will lock onto the computer screen. At the same time, part of my intellectual center is generating thoughts for this article, while another part, in conjunction with the emotional center, is deciding which thoughts to use.

Although there is a part monitoring these thoughts, this is not self-awareness. The part that is monitoring the ‘I’s is in the intellectual center. It can also include part of the emotional center, but only monitors a small part of the intellectual center. What is happening in the instinctive, moving, and rest of the emotional center is outside my awareness. Usually, I am not aware of any tension in my moving or instinctive center unless it turns into a headache or pain in my shoulder. I may be aware that the smoke of a cigarette at the next table in the coffee shop where I write irritates me, and I feel quite justified in this irritation.

Because of my general state of identification, my aim to use and transform this negativity to enable my higher self to awaken, has no chance of realization. The most interesting thing is that even though I am writing about the idea of awakening, most of the time no thought, no work ‘I’, appears to tell me to remember myself. And so I stay asleep. This shows what a desperate situation we are in. Even realizing one is in this desperate situation is relatively rare.

Glimpsing the Light of Awareness

In a state of identification, ‘the light of awareness doesn’t return to its root.’ The root refers to the spirit contained within. I have had experiences in which this spirit, this most precious pearl, broke through the veil of the many ‘I’s. Yet I still neglect it most of the time during my day. Even so, without doubt, from all experiences I have had in my life, they are the ones I value most.

When I was 4 or 5 years old, I was riding a bus with my family. We were returning home from a visit to relatives. It was evening. The bus was riding on a freeway and I was sitting in the back looking out from the back window. Freeway lights were making the road glow with a golden yellow light. This light was mixing with internal light.

It somehow created a fairy tale atmosphere and the feeling I had was one I’d never experienced before. I didn’t know what I was experiencing, except that it was magical.

At times the following can be experienced: in the state of quietness, one’s vision becomes hazy, because of too much brightness. It’s like opening one’s eyes while being in a cloud and one doesn’t see one’s body any more. This is called:  the empty chamber produces white (light). Inside and outside, are permeated with light. This is a very favorable sign. — The Secret of the Golden Flower

The Connectedness of Higher States

Much later, some years after I joined the Fellowship of Friends, I experienced a higher state of consciousness. It was a deep state of self-awareness. Then I understood what had happened. In the higher state, I connected with that experience from when I was 4 or 5, which I had completely forgotten about.

I then understood that it was the same state. It had the same taste, the same magic. I felt that even though I was in this body, I was separate from it, it was not me. The only difference was that when I was 4 or 5, I didn’t have the experience to understand what was happening.

The many ‘I’s keep us in a constant state of distraction. It is the steward’s job to try to bring back unity, by focusing self-awareness and ignoring the many ‘I’s.  The more effort to be self-aware, the more spontaneous experiences of self-remembering will occur. There is nothing more magical or miraculous.

From Taoist Authors on Fixing Awareness

Awakening of the spirit is accomplished because the heart has first died. When a man can let his heart die, then the original spirit awakens to life. To kill the heart does not mean to let it dry and wither away, but it means that it has become undivided and gathered into one.The Buddha said: “When you fix your heart on one point, then nothing is impossible for you”. – The Secret of the Golden Flower

The image of great gain is as of tousled hair being gathered back into one bunch; it means overcoming confusion by unity, stopping distraction by concentration. — I Ching, Hexagram#16 Joy

Walther Sell is the author of a website on Oriental esoteric teachings and the Fourth Way. For more, see his page, Inner Journey to the West.
See other articles by Walther for the FourthWayToday.org.