Session 55: Monkey Pushes Over the Tree of Baby-like Fruits

Monkey, urged on by Pigsy, steals three baby-like fruits and shares them with Pigsy and Friar Sand. When the theft is discovered by the young disciples of the Great Immortal, and the pilgrims are locked in the temple. Later Monkey uses his power to uproot the miraculous tree. **Session Focus:** * Explore the motives and habitual tendencies that led Wukong to steal the fruits * Examine the individual characters and team dynamics of the four pilgrims, and how these traits affect their collective journey * Introduce the Five Elements as an inner symbolic map and consider their relevance to spiritual growth and character temperaments. **Key Questions for contemplation:** *Monkey said to the local deity: “I am the most famous criminal on earth. When I stole the sacred peaches, the imperial wine, and the elixir of immortality some years ago, nobody dared to try and take a cut. How comes it that when I take some fruit today you pinch my very first one? This fruit grows on a tree, and the birds of the air must have their share of it, so what harm will be done if I eat one? Why did you snatch it the moment it fell down?”* Q1: What traits or habitual tendencies do you hear in Wukong’s words, even after nearly ten years following Sanzang? *"What do you mean, 'fear only the Five Elements?'" Monkey asked.* *The deity said, ”If they meet metal, they fall; if they meet wood they rot; if they meet water they dissolve; if they meet fire they are burnt; and if they meet earth they go into it. If you tap them you have to use a golden rod, otherwise they won't drop; and when you knock them down you must catch them in a bowl padded with silk handkerchiefs. If they come in contact with wooden utensils they rot, and even if you eat one it won't make you live any longer. When you eat them you must do so off porcelain, and they should be cooked in clear water. If they come in contact with fire they become charred and useless, and they go into any earth they touch. When you knocked one to the ground just now it went straight in, and as the earth here will now live for forty−seven thousand years you wouldn't be able to make any impression on it even with a steel drill: it's much harder than wrought iron. Try hitting the ground if you don't believe me."* Q2: How do the Five Elements interact with one another? What deeper, symbolic meaning could the Five Elements hold for spiritual growth? If you map the pilgrims to elements, which fits best for each: Monkey, Pigsy, Friar Sand, and Sanzang, and why? *"Come here, disciples," called Sanzang.* *"We've had it," said Friar Sand when he heard Sanzang calling. "The game's up. Our master is calling us and the young Taoists are swearing and cursing. The cat must be out of the bag."* *"How disgraceful," said Monkey, "all that fuss about some food. But if we confess it, they'll say it was stealing food; the best thing is not to admit it at all."* *"Quite right, quite right, we'll cover it up," said Pig, and three of them went from the kitchen to the hall.* *Sanzang said, "As men of religion we should control our tongues and not eat food that befuddles our minds. If you ate their fruit you should apologize to them, instead of trying to brazen it out like this."* *Seeing that his master was talking sense, Brother Monkey began to tell the truth. "I didn't start it, master," he said. "Pig heard the Taoist boys eating something called manfruit next door to him and wanted to try one himself. He made me go and get three so that we three disciples could have one each. But now they've been eaten, there's no point in waiting around here."* Q3: What do you observe about each pilgrim’s character from these words and actions? What team issues are revealed, and how might they improve? *Splendid Monkey. He pulled a hair out from the back of his head, breathed a magic breath on it, said "Change," and turned it into an imitation Monkey who stayed with the Tang Priest, Pig and Friar Sand to endure the cursing and swearing of the Taoist boys, while the real Monkey used his divine powers to leap out of the hall by cloud. He went straight to the garden and struck the manfruit tree with his gold−banded cudgel. Then he used his supernatural strength that could move mountains to push the tree over with a single shove. The leaves fell, the branches splayed out, and the roots came out of the ground. …After pushing the tree over Monkey searched through the branches for manfruit, but he could not find a single one.* Q4: What caused the theft and the ultimate disaster (the tree being pushed over)? What are the wider consequences, for the pilgrims, for their mission, for trust with other powers? Take your time with these questions. Bring your insights, personal reflections, and discoveries into our circle for shared contemplation. 📚 Self-Study & Preparation: [https://chine.in/fichiers/jourwest.pdf](https://chine.in/fichiers/jourwest.pdf) Chapter 25 (page 354 - 361). 💰 Participation Fee: Pay-as-you-go: AUD $5 per session (via PayPal) 📝 Members’ Blogging Space: Share your reflections and learnings: [https://www.hellosuliving.com/blog](https://www.hellosuliving.com/blog)