Learning Monkeys

    Last night the family talk turned on to animal learning: crows in Japan have learned to drop clams on the roads from great height to crack to shells; dolphins in USA have learned to hunt in team and to share their catches; and our dog, Ryder, tricked us into looking away then sneaked out to see his lady on the next property -- on the opposite side.
    What have we learned from animals? (Human is also animal ;-) We talked and our talk turned to a classic story of wise monkeys -- a folk graphical proverb.

    The three wise monkeys, together they embody the proverbial principle to "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil". (In Japan) The three monkeys are Mizaru, covering his eyes, who sees no evil; Kikazaru, covering his ears, who hears no evil; and Iwazaru, covering his mouth, who speaks no evil.
    Sometimes there is a fourth monkey depicted with the three others; the last one, Shizaru, symbolizes the principle of "do no evil". He may be shown crossing his arms.
    Today, another monkey comes into view. He may have a name like 'Kangaezaru' or 'Omouzaru' and he does 'think no evil'. In fact, in a cynical way, he does not think at all.

    Later that night, I briefly looked up the Net and noted:
    Think No Evil is more than a tragic story against Amish children, it is a story of finding wholeness, not through revenge, but through forgiveness.

    There are differing explanations of the meaning of "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil."

    In Buddhist tradition, the tenets of the proverb are about not dwelling on evil thoughts.
    In the Western world both the proverb and the image are often used to refer to a lack of moral responsibility on the part of people who refuse to acknowledge impropriety, looking the other way or feigning ignorance.
    It may also signify a code of silence in gangs, or organised crime.

    And this comes as a mark of how the proverb is ingrained into societies:
    Unicode provides emoticon representations of the monkeys as follows:
         Mizaru: U+1F648 see-no-evil monkey
    Kikazaru: U+1F649 hear-no-evil monkey
    Iwazaru: U+1F64A speak-no-evil monkey
    and I propose Shizaru: U+1F64B do-no-evil and Omozaru: U+1F64C think-no-evil

[GD]

My new piece of knowledge. Three wise monkeys tells the Japanese values. Your proposed Shizaru and Omozaru can fit nicely with the three to make 5 wise monkeys. I like this idea. Thanks.

[sr]

Hi ทะเลงาม : So, the two new monkeys look 'cute' to you? I call them 'learning monkeys' and write about them using a "wise; learning" contradictory theme -- so wise monkeys can learn and learn to 'do no evil' and 'think no evil'. With all 5 monkeys (remember human may come from monkeys?) we may complete the learning and become really wise ;-)

You and I see Omozaru (what organ does he cover?) -- and just have fun teasing Shizaru around, eh?