The implication of ancient stone carving monkeys

Hankou Dijiao Park is located in the northeast corner of Hankou, covering an area of about 20 hectares. Because it is far from the city, although the scenery is beautiful and green, there are not many people who usually play. I have been to this garden many times, so I am familiar with this road. Entering from the antique gate, we soon found a large stone carving of the Monkey Opera in front of the beautiful Wenfeng Pavilion. This group of stone carvings consists of four finely carved gray stone monkeys. It is said that each monkey is 2.4 meters high, 1.3 meters wide, 1.3 meters thick and weighs 3 tons. The four monkeys have different expressions. One is blindfolded, the other is covering his ears, the other is covering his mouth, and the other is sitting up. They are all in a semi-squatting position, which looks awkward and funny. So I took photos of them with my camera, and it was interesting to look at these photos.

What is the origin or legend of the four monkeys? How about taking its meaning? I checked the information specially.

One explanation: the three monkeys are squatting and look naive: the first one covers their ears, the second one covers their mouths, and the third one covers their eyes. Expert introduction, from a sentence of Confucius: "Don't say anything if you are indecent, don't listen if you are indecent, see no evil." In The Analects of Confucius, Yan Yuan asked Confucius: How should the so-called "self-denial and self-surrender" be explained? Confucius said, "see no evil, don't listen to evil, don't say evil, and don't move if you are evil." That is, don't watch what you don't watch, don't listen to what you don't listen to, and don't say what you don't say.

The second explanation: The Three Apes Map was born in the Japanese school. There are three monkeys in the picture, one covering his ears, one covering his mouth and one blindfolded, indicating that he won't listen, say or see. The theme of this painting comes from the custom of keeping Geng Shen. Taoism in China believes that there are three kinds of gods in the human body, which are called three corpse worms. Classic Three Corpses: Three Corpses Insects "do great harm to the people, and often sue the Emperor of Heaven between Geng and Shen to remember people's sins". In order to prevent the three bodies from harming people, it is an ancient custom for Gengshen to keep Gengshen without lying down that night. The custom of keeping Geng Shenshen spread to Japan, and people painted the images of three apes with the number of three dead insects-three, and the genus of Geng Shenshen. In the painting, the monkey covers his ears, his mouth and his eyes, which should be aimed at the three-corpse worm vilified in front of the Emperor of Heaven.

The third explanation: there are three monkeys in Japan. The pronunciation of monkey in Japanese is "SARU", which is very similar to the suffix "zharu" in the negative form of classical Chinese verbs. Just as China has such sayings as "it's good to talk less", "disaster comes from the mouth" and "it's not annoying to watch", the Japanese also have such sayings as "don't listen, don't watch and don't talk" to persuade people to make less trouble. The endings of "don't listen", "don't look" and "don't tell" are all pronounced as "Zharu", which sounds like a monkey saying "SARU". Therefore, the statue of three monkeys, which represents the image of "three noes" with sunlight, is very famous in Japan.

The fourth explanation: three don't monkeys-don't talk, don't listen, don't watch. The ancients said, "Half of the Analects of Confucius governs the world". The Analects of Confucius, a classic self-cultivation method adopted by Han people, is also yearned for and respected by ethnic minorities. Confucius taught future generations to say, "Don't talk, don't listen to evil, don't see evil".

From these four explanations, we can see that the stone carvings of four monkeys imply a kind of Confucianism of "three noes" or "four noes".

In The Analects of Confucius Yan Yuan, it is said that Yan Yuan asked for benevolence. Confucius said, "Self-denial and courtesy are benevolence. A day of self-denial and self-denial, the world will return to benevolence. For benevolence, for yourself, for people? " Yan Yuan said, "What's the purpose?" Confucius said, "see no evil, don't listen to evil, don't say evil, and don't move if you are evil." Yan Yuan said, "Although I am not sensitive, please talk to me." What does this mean? On the surface, I understand that Yan Yuan, a disciple of Confucius, asked about benevolence, and Confucius replied, forbearing self-esteem as benevolence. This kind of self-denial is to restrict one's behavior within the scope of "courtesy". If one day everyone respects himself, the world will be ruled by benevolence. Benevolence's entrance is "see no evil, don't listen if you are indecent, don't speak if you are indecent, and don't move if you are indecent", that is, people who don't conform to the code of conduct shouldn't watch what they shouldn't watch, don't listen to what they shouldn't hear, don't say what they shouldn't say and don't do what they shouldn't do. These projects are difficult to achieve. This chapter is respectful and honest, and relatively easy to learn. What you have learned is benevolence. People often see a "three don't monkeys" lamp in antique shops, which comes from the meaning of "don't say, don't listen, don't look" in the Analects of Confucius. Now there is a monkey in the stone carving of Dijiao Park in Hankou, and its meaning also comes from The Analects of Confucius. The four monkeys were in a crouching posture, with a naive face: one hand covering their ears, one hand covering their mouths, one hand covering their eyes, and the other sitting quietly, vividly demonstrating the way of "four noes"-don't listen to what you shouldn't hear, don't say what you shouldn't say, don't look, and don't move, indicating that people should be cautious and kind, and cultivate their morality.